Woman warns about Barcelona travel – but is told to go home | Europe | Travel

It’s all too easy to get complacent and comfortable when you’re on holiday enjoying yourself, which may mean you leave your phone on the table.

But one woman warned that “cross body bags” are the only place to safely store your belongings because she’d just “watched somebody get robbed”.

Alexis Charbeneau captioned her video: “For those travelling to Barcelona but all major European cities apply. The worst part about this amazing city, truly.” 

She said it’s “normal” to have phones on tables because we’re “constantly looking at it” but pickpockets in Barcelona and other major cities are wiley, and know just how to steal your belongings.

“People will approach you with a map, or a drawing, and they look sweet, they feel sweet, that’s their whole schtick,” Alexis said, but there’s a more sinister side to them.

She added: “They come up to you and underneath where you’re looking they take your phone… I just watched somebody get robbed.”

Alexis explained they were “so upset”, suggesting if anyone comes over to you “with anything to look at” you should “grab your s**t and just say no”, rather than playing along with them.

“They are so sneaky, and it is so upsetting,” she reiterated.

She said “everybody knows” it can happen, and they have cross body bags and come “prepared” but “everybody’s trying to be a good person and entertain the person that’s trying to engage with them”.

At the end of the video she added: “Good luck out there.”

In the comments, people agreed, with one woman saying she thought she was being “so aware” of her “surrounding” when she was robbed in Barcelona.

“Didn’t have issues in Barcelona. I did almost get robbed on metro in Madrid, yelled until I got it back,” someone penned.

However, one local wrote: “We don’t want tourist – GO home.”

Someone asked them underneath their comment: “Do you never travel?” Another added: “I’ve only ever been welcomed warmly by all my Catalan friends. Clearly it’s just you that’s miserable.”

Another warned: “In Barcelona, the waiters will grab your iPhone off your table and hand it to you. I had it happen 3 times until I got the hint.”