Nov 5th, 2009 at 3:00PM: If you were to steal 1,000 pieces of luggage, where would you keep it all? Wherever they shoved the bags, Keith Wilson King and Stacy Lynne Legg-King saw the police pull them out of their house one-by-one and stack them in the yard. The duo had been pinching luggage from the baggage carousels at the Phoenix airport, amassing an impressive collection of stolen goods ... so big the police couldn't ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
police posts
Husband and wife team steals 1,000 bags
Nov 5th, 2009 at 3:00PM: If you were to steal 1,000 pieces of luggage, where would you keep it all? Wherever they shoved the bags, Keith Wilson King and Stacy Lynne Legg-King saw the police pull them out of their house one-by-one and stack them in the yard. The duo had been pinching luggage from the baggage carousels at the Phoenix airport, amassing an impressive collection of stolen goods ... so big the police couldn't ...AeroMexico plane hijacking resolved peacefully
Sep 10th, 2009 at 10:30AM: Shortly after taking off from Cancun on Wednesday, the pilots of AeroMexico flight 737 radioed the control tower to say the plane had been hijacked. The hijacker had showed off a bomb (later found to be fake) and demanded to speak to Mexican President Felipe Calderon. He threatened to blow up the plane, which was carrying over 100 people, and said he needed to warn the President of an impending ...Hotel guests in New Zealand wake up with drunk Aussie in their bed
Aug 10th, 2009 at 4:30PM: In more naked news, a couple vacationing in a New Zealand resort town woke up to find an uninvited guest in their room. A 29-year old Australian had wandered in, climbed into their bed, and fallen asleep.
The Aussie had been out drinking with a woman and gone back with her to her hotel room. At some point in the night, he got out of bed - naked - and began wandering the halls until he found an ...Mexican resort beach shut down, accused of stealing sand
Jul 31st, 2009 at 4:30PM: Visitors to a Cancun beach found themselves restricted by yellow crime-scene tape yesterday, when Mexican police cordoned off the beach under accusations that the sand was stolen.
According to the AP release, after Hurricane Wilma washed away much of the resort area's beach in 2005, Mexico spent $19 million replacing it with sand pumped from the sea floor. That sand has been slowly eroding, ...Terrorist bomb blast in Spanish tourist town
Jul 29th, 2009 at 12:30PM: The northern Spanish town of Burgos, a popular destination for holidaymakers, was rocked by a car bomb early this morning. According to the BBC the bomb targeted a high-rise residential building of the Guardia Civil, injuring 46 people, many of whom are women and children.
Officials are blaming ETA, a terrorist group that seeks an independent Basque nation in Spain's northern region. Unlike many ...Gunman tasered at Gatwick airport
Jul 29th, 2009 at 11:00AM: If you're taking a bus to the airport, the last thing you want to see is one of your fellow passengers carrying a gun, especially if you're in England and you know the guy probably doesn't have permission to own one.
That's just what happened to a passenger going to Gatwick Airport near London this morning. As soon as his bus arrived at the airport's South Terminal he notified police and they ...Cops scamming tourists at Bangkok airport
Jul 21st, 2009 at 1:30PM: Tourists face a lot of scams if they travel in Southeast Asia, but one especially nasty and hard-to-avoid one has been reported by the BBC. At Bangkok's main airport, cops are accusing international visitors of shoplifting from the airport stores and then extorting money from them to drop the charges. Sometimes a "friendly translator" will help the desperate travelers, and then charge exorbitant ...Brit cops delete photos, fight terrorism
Apr 18th, 2009 at 5:00PM: Two Austrian tourists ran afoul of local police when they took pictures of the city's famous double-decker buses. Klaus Matzka and his son, Loris, were clicking away on the streets of London while on vacation. Shots of a bus station in Walthamstow (in east London), however, got the cops interested.
The tourists were told by local police that they were not allowed to photograph anything related ...Moscow luggage handlers lighten load
Mar 16th, 2009 at 2:00PM: What's going on in Moscow? If you have any valuables in your luggage, they may not be there when you get to the hotel! Well, maybe the odds are better now that police at the city's main international airport have arrested several luggage handlers suspected of sifting through bags and pocketing the good stuff. The thefts began in early January at Sheremetyevo Airport. It seems that a daily flight ...Woman used at LAX as Jamie Lynn Spears decoy threatens to sue LA Police
Jan 6th, 2009 at 4:30PM: The moral of this story seems to be, if you're going to use a person as a decoy for a famous person, ask first. Don't just pick the person out of a crowd and let her or him be surrounded by paparazzi while the celebrity gets to trot off without being noticed.
This is exactly what happened to Adessa Eskridge, a woman from Ohio who happened to look a bit like Jamie Lynn Spears, AND, as fate would ...Mumbai's Party Scene Takes a Hit
Nov 20th, 2008 at 1:00PM: Mumbai's rave scene has grown exponentially over the past few years. The influx of new money and the city's urban flare make it a ripe place for a party. But don't be confused, it ain't Goa. The plentiful drugs and thumping bass of the former Portuguese colony and hippy hangout will never be duplicated in India's largest city. That is, as long as the authorities have something to say about it. ...Naive Travelers Pay $200 for Snack in India
Nov 17th, 2008 at 11:30AM: It's one of those tricks you learn in "How to Rip off Travelers 101": act friendly, provide food or a service and then reveal that you are charging an exorbitant price. The traveler is at a disadvantage because they have already used the service or eaten the food. In general, they will pay all, or at least a major portion, of the price you are asking. This is what happened to a Dutch couple ...Bolshoi in Russia: Getting a visa is not for the faint of heart
Jun 4th, 2008 at 6:00PM: It's not that getting a visa to Russia is the hardest thing you will ever do as a traveler. It's just one of those things you wish you didn't have to do. But since the US makes it difficult for Russians to get a US visa, the Russians do the same. Hence, you end of with a painful process called Obtaining a Visa to Russia.
First, you have to get an invitation letter. Yeah, it is kind of a problem, ...No Wrong Turns: Portland's Powell's, Ponies and Police
Feb 19th, 2008 at 8:00AM: After a harrowing drive from Calgary to Vancouver due to ice, snow, and psychotic truck drivers, Tom and I managed to make it to Vancouver to visit with family and get one more vaccine for our trip. Next up was Portland, Oregon. But we had to cross the US border and play nice with the officers. The conversation that took place in the car before went like this: Me: "Ok, so I know they ask all sorts ...The craziest game show in the world (and guess from where!)
Jan 17th, 2008 at 9:28PM: With the writer's strike in the US, television has quickly deteriorated as all the networks switch to an overdose of reality-TV shows. But here's one I wouldn't mind watching. It's hands-down the most insane game show you'll ever read about. Set in Moscow (where else), the show is essentially a real-life version of Grand Theft Auto, the video game in which you're a professional carjacker. In the ...Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?
Nov 12th, 2007 at 2:30PM: There are worse things that can happen when traveling, I'm sure, than getting arrested and thrown in a foreign prison, but I can't think of anything right now. This is such a regular occurrence that studies have been done and cities have been ranked. Here are the top 10 foreign cities for Americans to get arrested, along with the number taken into custody:
Tijuana: 520
Guadalajara: 416
...Police Cars from Around the World
Jul 18th, 2007 at 6:00PM:
There's something weird about police cars. No matter where you go, they all look somewhat the same, yet still completely different. It's one of those strange travel gems -- like grocery stores and candy bars -- that seem so familiar yet remain absolutely different and strangely interesting. Here's a whole boat-load of police cars in different shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors from different ...A Canadian in Beijing: Charmed by Chinglish
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:02PM:
A few years ago, I had a running joke with a friend of mine about being "grammar police." We used to lament not having a large stack of magic markers (of various colours and thicknesses) stashed in our bags or our vehicles at all times. These markers would be for quietly replacing missing apostrophes, for example, found on public signs or missing quotations, periods, question marks. Generally, ...A Canadian in Beijing: Pedestrian Police in Shanghai
May 1st, 2007 at 10:47AM:
Walking in Shanghai is a completely different experience to walking in Beijing. Unlike the latter that includes constant sidestepping and a forced alertness to mopeds on sidewalks or enormous bicycles catching my heels, Shanghai is tame. After checking out the Bund, my friend Sarah and I took to the underground walkways that help pedestrians cross the wide busy streets (oh, how civilized!) and ...
