engineering around the world

watch your bags!

In hindsight, we could have seen the situation coming. A series of abnormal events on the train from Amsterdam to Bruxelles yesterday unfortunately culminated in Curtis’ bag, filled with a camera, ipod, phone, glasses, and clothes, being stolen. Amsterdam trains are infamous for clever thieves, a stereotype which sadly proved to be true.

Series of events:

- A sketchy man sat in our booth on the train car, even though there were plenty of empty seats elsewhere

- His “friend” sat in the row behind us

- After one stop, the man started asking us which stop we were at. Seemed strange, especially since the stop had just been announced in FOUR different languages, and as an adult he was surely capable of both paying attention and looking out the window to see the station

- He thanked us for helping him and then got off the train. At that point, we realized that Curtis’ bag was gone! But we checked out the window and the man hadn’t taken it

- At that point, we realized that his friend had taken the bag while the other man distracted us with questions. We tried to find the conductor to stop the train, but by the time we found him, the train had started to pull away from the station. It was too late.

Moral of the story:

- Keep your bag with you in your seat at all times

- Be very skeptical if a stranger unnecessarily sits in your row

- Be even more skeptical if he starts distracting you with obvious questions

- Luckily, Curtis kept his passport, money, and credit cards in his pocket in a special travel pouch. Travel pouches are officially highly recommended.