Avoid this scam if you are going to the beautiful Italy any time soon. I just want to share our recent experience so others can avoid this scam if you are travelling to Italy any time soon. We checked out of our hotel and walked to the bus stop for the train station for the next city. The bus came but so did a lot of other people. We suddenly found ourselves mobbed by a sea of people. We missed the bus and so did a lot of other people. I was so frustrated and frantically looking for the bus schedule to see when the next bus would come. I turned to my wife and said to her "Honey, I think we should get a taxi instead. We may never catch a bus and miss our train. The people here are rude, they cut in front of you and jumped the line as if there is no law." She smiled at me and waved a big piece of card and said "I am way ahead of you, let's go. I got this taxi card from that tall door man with the hotel uniform." I was releived that my wife was truly my best partner. We took the card and went to the table with a "Taxi" sign. A red hair lady was sitting behind the tiny taxi table. She took our taxi card and requested a dollar for her service fee. I frowned at her and grudgingly complied to find the dollar from my wallet. I said to her as I was handing her the dollar "I thought you were not supposed to ask for a service charge for getting us the taxi. I read it online before I came to Italy." She smiled back at me and didn't say a word. Instead she gave me a yellow sticky note. There were so many others behind us trying to get a taxi, so I took the note but didn't read it. I figured I would have plenty of time when I get into the taxi. Besides, it may just be a handwritten receipt for the dollar I gave her because I protested about giving her the dollar for her service. I didn't want to be viewed at as a cheap tourist from the great USA. She stood up and told us to follow her ignoring the long line of people standing behind us. We followed her to the "Taxi" line. She sat down next to the person in line and asked us to sit down on the floor too. I frowned again? more lines and sitting down to wait? What in the world is going on here? She smiled and turned her beautiful face to me and looked past my wife who sat in between us and just stared at me and continued to smile. I was a bit embarrassed and wondering what was going on? And, I quickly remembered the yellow sticky note. So, I took it out and read it. It was written in Chinese - Mr. X. Are you an octopus? Crapola, (1) this red hair Italian knows Chinese? (2) She was teasing me for being cheap like a Jewish guy. The sound to pronounce "ocotopus" in Chinese is the same sound to pronounce "Jew". I looked up at the young red hair Italian lady and started laughing. She started laughing loud too. My poor wife said to me in Chinese, "what the heck are you two laughing about? what was on that stupid note she gave you and let me see it...." She took the note over and started laughing too. The 3 of us were laughing so hard and everybody waiting in line started staring at us. The taxi came and so I woke up from my weirdest dream of my life after my fearful trip to Italy before, during and now after - LOL.
Now, the real scam that happened to us when we visited Milan Italy in October 2016 just a couple weeks ago. I read many articles about scams like pickpocketing, dove feeding, lucky rope, lucky roses etc. to avoid when travelling to Italy. So, I felt I was pretty well prepared for the trip. We landed in Milan Italy with a direct flight from JFK with Emirates airline. It was a very sweet 2 for 1 airline ticket deal when my wife spotted it on "Travelzoo" We paid $900 to fly from JFK to Milan direct flight and round trip in November of 2015 for October 2016 travel. I took a huge risk for buying the special because it was non-refundable. The flight was very pleasant. The Emirates airbus A-380 plane was either new or newly renovated. Every passenger has his or her own TV screen. The screen size was the largest I ever seen when flying international flights. There are also big ceiling monitors that give you the impressive runway views when taking off and landing as if you were sitting inside the cockpit flying the airplane. Our economic class meal menu also includes complimentary beers, wines. The food quality was also very good. It was a pleasant surprise in light of recent waves of cut-back in meals to boost profit for the airline industry.
We landed in Malpensa airport in Milan after about 8 hours long flight. We walked to the train ticket window with our carry-on to buy our tickets to Milano Porta Garibaldi railway station. A young dark middle eastern looking man cut the line in front of the couple ahead of us. I was going to say something to that young man but decided to NOT make a scene. But, I was really annoyed by this first impression of Italy. Everything they wrote in their Italy trip reviews is real. I am witnessing it first hand here. As we got to the ticket window, and bought our tickets. I noticed the young man left his small old-styled cell phone behind(US standard) at the counter. So, we told the ticket lady and she smiled at us and took the cellphone in. I was smiling inside of me - Wow, that was a quick vengeance and punishment for wrong doing from God.
We got on the train, and lo and behold we were sitting in the same cabin as the young man I thought but unsure. I didn't tell the young man about his cellphone. As the train stopped at the first stop, the young man quickly arose and got off the train. I knew then that it was him, and he probably was going back to Malpensa airport to get his cellphone back. So, people don't cut the line to save time or you may lose more time and money.
We checked into our hotel and decided to jump onto the metro to the romantic Navigli canal for the famous Italian Aperitz drink and food bar along the canal.
We got to the Garibaldi subway station and went to the ticket machines. There was a man standing next to 1 of them, so we avoided him on purpose to go to the other machine. He quickly approached us, and pretended to help us by trying to touch our screen. I read about this kind of subway ticket machine scam before the trip. So, I waved him away before he even had a chance to touch my screen but I took pity for him and was going to give him a dollar after I got my tickets. We were finally able to buy our two 2-day tickets. Our credit card for some reason (probably because I was too nervous) was rejected twice, so we used cash. As we were waiting for the change/coins to drop, the man came back and reached his hand into the coin slot so quick I didn't even have time to respond. I quickly inserted my hand in there and fought to picked up the dropping coins. It must be a miracle - I was able to pick up all 3 coins (3.5 euros) and he didn't catch even 1 coin. So, no mercy for bad guys but yes mercy for poor guys. Boy, I was so happy that I passed my first Italian scam during my Italy trip but I was also mad at the man who pulled such a stunt in front of me. He was literally robbing me for the change.
Luckily that was the only scam we encountered during our 9 days 7 nights trip to Italy in October 2016. Be very careful when you visit Italy. It may happen to you too, so be prepared when going to Italy.
Would I go back to Italy? You bet I would, because Italy was so beautiful and we only got to see Milan, Venice and Rome. We were wowed over and over during the entire trip. Not a second to lose, every day we walked and watched and enjoyed every moment of it. Italy was simply stunningly beautiful. We spent a few thousand dollars for the whole trip, it was the best investment we ever made. Look for more tips in later blog.
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