Great Advice On Avoiding Scams And Pickpockets

Rick Steves has a great piece about avoiding pickpockets and scamsters on the streets of Europe, although his advice is valid anywhere you might travel.

He recommends wearing a money belt, staying alert and learning to recognize scams. Put me in mind of a friend whose wallet was lifted by a little old lady on a bus in Ireland, of my mother being boxed in by two men trying to get at her pocketbook on the subway in St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida), a cab driver trying to charge me 10 times the going rate in San Jose, Costa Rica, and a dozen other stories.

It happens everywhere, folks. Tourists get taken in the United States, too. I once saw a police office at Rockefeller Center in New York City screaming at a hot-dog vendor who had ripped off a Japanese couple. They got their money back.

‘United Breaks Guitars’ Goes Viral

Dave Carroll, whose music video with his band the Sons of Maxwell about United Airlines breaking his guitar has become a viral Internet hit, appeared Friday on The Early Show on CBS (thanks, Airline Biz Blog). You’ll have to put up with the ad:

(Does he sound Canadian, or what?)