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<div>CHILL - and do not be so rude.</div>
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<div>This may be irritating to you but it is very important to me.
USE your DELETE key.</div>
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<div>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. </div>
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<div>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.</div>
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<div>I feel sure the lister who mention toting a gun was JOKING and I
took it as jest</div>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite>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!</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite> </blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>E. O. Pederson</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Seattle, WA</blockquote>
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<blockquote type="cite" cite>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at
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