Tough Lessons when Traveling

10/8/2012

Just a short summary & reminder to be vigilant during your travels anywhere.

As we were packing to leave Italy today and head north toward Klagenfurt, Austria the unimaginable happened!

I was in the room packing and finishing the charging of the technology that we brought (laptop, camera,  ipods...)  Kevin & the kids were bringing down the pillows and small personal bags to start loading the car, which was parked near the front door of the Hotel.  Kevin & Ryan returned to get the bigger bags leaving Carmen to organize the backseat.  Afterward Carmen also headed upstairs to get her travel bag.  She noticed a man leaning on a car next to ours but didn't think much of it. She thought he was the owner of the car.  When Kevin, Ryan & Carmen returned with the travel bags they noticed that the small personal bags were no longer in the back seat.  The guy leaning on the car was also gone, presumably with the kids bags.  Carmen had her new "Vienna" backpack with her headphones, souvenirs, school work and other personal writing accessories, wallet w/ some Hungarian $$. Ryan had his new "Adidas" bag also with headphones, Oakley case, phone charging cord, UNI jacket, wallet w/ some Hungarian $$.

Some Souvenirs will never arrive in the USA

The Oakley glasses were on top but fortunately for Ryan didn't get taken.  Kevin & Ryan searched around the hotel parking area, nearby streets & boardwalk in front near the beach to no avail.  The Hotel manager did what she could and spoke to the neighbor across the street in Italian and took a report for the police but it seems that we were not going to see those bags anytime again.  Luckily, I had all the technology hardware items with me in the room.  This is a minor setback and a difficult lesson for the kids to learn about keeping an eye on your stuff & lock the doors when traveling.

We console the kids the best we can and try not to let this episode ruin the rest of our excursion.

Enjoying the Italian Beach of  Lido Di Jesolo

Sad faces all around but the kids try to rebound and we head to our next stop in Austria.