Missing Alabama student in Barcelona

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My point is that back in the day nobody had phones. And everybody was fine.

No everybody was NOT fine.

+1

Yes, we were. I was, my spouse was, and three of my kids who studied abroad a generation later also were fine.

Everyone was fine and safe... pre-EU and pre-open borders when Europe was like 99% native-born? The tourist hotspots are beyond gone at this point thanks to open borders and soft on crime policies.

Hasn’t the pickpocketing thing been a problem long before the increased immigration?

Yes, when we were studying in Madrid decades ago and traveled by train to Italy one of us was pickpocketed at the station in Barcelona. It's long been a problem.

My mom tripped and fell at a Metro station in a decent neighborhood in Paris. She actually fractured her shoulder. 3 men stopped to "help". One of them stole my phone after a series of exchanges where I was trying to get the men not to make my mother stand up, trying to assess whether she was okay, making sure our purses were secured (hers had a torn strap), and trying to figure out if the men were correct about explaining how to dial for an ambulance. I declined in the end to call an ambulance. We walked a block before I realized one of the men showing me how to dial had pocketed my generically black Android phone.

I dropped one of the "spinning plates". Still mad that someone took advantage. I lost some cool pics from right before the vacation and during. And didn't have a phone camera for the rest of the trip.

It's the only time I've been robbed.

The only time we were ever robbed was when we spent a summer in a small Midwestern city with a reputation for safety and our house was broken into and our TV, computer, and other items were stolen while we took the kids to the local zoo.

I haven't labelled the entire Midwest as a crime-ridden unsafe hell hole as a result.

PP. Well I didn't label Europe as a crime-ridden hellhole. Just commented on how tourist areas can make you a mark for petty theft when you are rendered very vulnerable by circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

If your son died...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

Lots of dismissive comments on this thread with posters trying to pretend some places aren't dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s. :roll:

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

I mean my grandpa was born in 1930 and didn’t get vaccinated for anything and he didn’t die, he still got vaccines when the became available tho.

Not a good analogy, sorry.

Having a cell phone and checking in regularly is one thing. Tracking your student at all times is another.

Nobody here is talking about going full Homeland with a kid widget in the corner of the screen. You’re very prone to hyperbole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

If your son died...

She's not on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s. :roll:

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

I mean my grandpa was born in 1930 and didn’t get vaccinated for anything and he didn’t die, he still got vaccines when the became available tho.

Not a good analogy, sorry.

Having a cell phone and checking in regularly is one thing. Tracking your student at all times is another.

Nobody here is talking about going full Homeland with a kid widget in the corner of the screen. You’re very prone to hyperbole.

Re-read Helicopter Mom's first post. That's exactly what she was doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

If your son died...

She's not on this thread.

I'm aware of that fact. Regardless, some posters here are "cold."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I was in my 20s, I travelled the world solo for a year. Took a year off and spent it backpacking - and on a tight budget. (I am a woman). No tech, no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no gps, no internet, nothing. The only thing I had was my first digital camera that I had bought for the trip.

Every ten days or so I would find an internet cafe and send my family a message saying where I was and what countries or cities I was planning to head to next. This was the 1990s and no one thought much of this.

One of the best years of my life.

Yes, and no one else did this in the 1990s. :roll:

I don't think that was the poster's point. I think the point was the poster survived and thrived without constant surveillance by anxious parents. It can be done.

I mean my grandpa was born in 1930 and didn’t get vaccinated for anything and he didn’t die, he still got vaccines when the became available tho.

Not a good analogy, sorry.

Having a cell phone and checking in regularly is one thing. Tracking your student at all times is another.

Nobody here is talking about going full Homeland with a kid widget in the corner of the screen. You’re very prone to hyperbole.

Helicopter Mom: "Back home in the states I could see on Life 360 that he hadn’t moved from the club in 7 hours. Waited for the club to close and when he didn’t move, knew there was a problem."

Sounds full Homeland to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lot of pearl clutching on this thread.

If your son died...

She's not on this thread.

She could be. It’s public.

[Anonymous]

This is so sad.

[Anonymous]

He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He may have been drugged. If I were his parents no way in hell I’d trust a Spain toxicology report.

It’s a strong possibility that he willingly took drugs. And anyone who says that he wasn’t the type is being naive. You never know. If you are out at a club at 3 am, it’s a safe bet that most of the people there are on drugs and you will certainly be offered drugs. The people who are drinking and not on drugs will usually wind it up by 12/1 am and go home.

[Anonymous]

Has this been ruled officially as accidental? If I were his parents I would not accept that his death was accidental. Was he drugged? What’s the latest? All the things I read online say he accidentally drowned. How are they determining it was accidental? Seems suspicious

[Anonymous]

They have CCTV video of him falling in