Security in the Camino

[Lois Karner]

CHILL - and do not be so rude.

This may be irritating to you but it is very important to me.  USE
your DELETE key.

I have been on all continents (including Antarctica) and visited over
40 countries but I have never shared accommodations with strangers.
This is new for me.

I do know the basics of travel and I simply asked earlier if people
felt safe leaving their backpacks while out and about - not leaving
anything of value.  Perhaps what I should have asked - is lock up
space available for peace of mind?  I would not be a happy camper if
I came back from a meal to find my clothes gone on my first night out.

I feel sure the lister who mention toting a gun was JOKING and I took
it as jest

>I find this discussion a little irritating.  Travel almost anyplace
>in Western Europe is safer than travel almost anyplace in the US.
>Crime along the camino is so rare as to be noteworthy when it
>happens.  Sadly that is not true even in some of the "safer" cities
>in the US such as Seattle where I live.  Take ordinary precautions,
>of course, for example do not leave an expensive camera or a wad of
>large denomination bills on top of your bunk in a refugio (why are
>you carrying them on a pilgrimage anyway?), but remember that most
>people in France and Spain do not carry handguns, robbery and
>burglary happen but are hardly common, and murder rates are a tiny
>fraction of those in death penalty obsessed US states like Texas and
>Virginia.  I travel a great deal, and I have rarely felt safer than
>I did walking the camino and staying in the refugios.  I have much
>greater fears of robbery and mayhem when hiking re! mo! te sections
>the Pacific Crest and Appalachain Trails here in the US!
>
>E. O. Pederson
>Seattle, WA
>
>
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
><http://explorer.msn.com>http://explorer.msn.com
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