Gary_W
10-05-2007, 05:51 PM
Evening all,
Just got back from a company meeting in Barcelona. Whenever I travel, I have a rucksack / laptop bag that I take on the plane as carry on. It's where I keep all the insulin supplies, spare test strips, night-time pen etc. as well as laptop, camera and all the other electronic guff that I tend to haul around.
Our meeting was in the Hilton hotel (not the one at the beach if anyone knows Barcelona, it was the other one). I had to have the bag in the meeting room with me as I needed the laptop. It is supposed to be a closed meeting, and everyone was quite happily leaving bags, laptops, handbags etc out in the room. Popped out for 5 mins for a coffee, came back and the bag was gone. I was told by the more worldly wise than myself that Barcelona is pretty notorious for anything not nailed down going for a walk, but you really don't expect it in a closed meeting in a 5 star hotel. Ho hum. One of the guys from South America had his stolen at exactly the same time. We viewed the (poor quality) security footage and it looks like a couple of well dressed strangers walked in and calmly walked out with the goods.
Now I always put my insulin supplies etc in the hotel safe in my room whenever I travel. On this occasion I was convinced I hadn't done so. Cue several mins of panic; I was down to my last test strip on the meter and my Lantus pen was in the bag. Fortunately, I HAD put half my supplies in the safe and was able to get by with no problems. 2 Optipen Pros were in the bag and are gone for good along with a laptop, nice headphones, my driving licence etc etc. Passport, camera and car keys were in the safe (phew).
Moral of the story (if there is one)... If you go anywhere, ensure you have backup supplies in at least 2 places so if disaster strikes you are prepared. I know you can re-suply in most countries fairly easily, but none of us need the hassle.
Gary
Just got back from a company meeting in Barcelona. Whenever I travel, I have a rucksack / laptop bag that I take on the plane as carry on. It's where I keep all the insulin supplies, spare test strips, night-time pen etc. as well as laptop, camera and all the other electronic guff that I tend to haul around.
Our meeting was in the Hilton hotel (not the one at the beach if anyone knows Barcelona, it was the other one). I had to have the bag in the meeting room with me as I needed the laptop. It is supposed to be a closed meeting, and everyone was quite happily leaving bags, laptops, handbags etc out in the room. Popped out for 5 mins for a coffee, came back and the bag was gone. I was told by the more worldly wise than myself that Barcelona is pretty notorious for anything not nailed down going for a walk, but you really don't expect it in a closed meeting in a 5 star hotel. Ho hum. One of the guys from South America had his stolen at exactly the same time. We viewed the (poor quality) security footage and it looks like a couple of well dressed strangers walked in and calmly walked out with the goods.
Now I always put my insulin supplies etc in the hotel safe in my room whenever I travel. On this occasion I was convinced I hadn't done so. Cue several mins of panic; I was down to my last test strip on the meter and my Lantus pen was in the bag. Fortunately, I HAD put half my supplies in the safe and was able to get by with no problems. 2 Optipen Pros were in the bag and are gone for good along with a laptop, nice headphones, my driving licence etc etc. Passport, camera and car keys were in the safe (phew).
Moral of the story (if there is one)... If you go anywhere, ensure you have backup supplies in at least 2 places so if disaster strikes you are prepared. I know you can re-suply in most countries fairly easily, but none of us need the hassle.
Gary