Tonight I boarded the train at Geneva to return to Lausanne around 10.30pm. As soon as I got on, there was an announcement in French with one word I didn't understand but I got the vague impression the conductor was warning about theft and pickpockets.
I sat at a window seat on the same side of the train as the platform, and had my oversized handbag/weekend bag (big enough to carry a laptop) next to me on the aisle seat.
A minute or two later, still at the gare, I heard a tap on the window right next to me and there was a man trying to get my attention and pointing away from the train. He kept tapping and pointing but I couldn't see what he was pointing at. He managed to successfully distract me so that I was looking out the window and away from my bag. What happened next was so fast that I don't have accurate recall, but the other passengers told me I turned around just in time to see a second man, on the train, pick up my handbag about to leave with it and that I grabbed it out of his hands. He then walked away, got off the train and the train departed. One of the witnesses said she saw the whole thing and just thought the guy was my friend playing with my bag so didn't say or do anything.
Fortunately I still have my handbag, laptop, wallet, house keys, etc. It's reminded me not to keep all my credit cards in my wallet in case it gets stolen and I'm left with nothing, as happened to me in Paris last year.
I thought I would share my experience in the hope that it prevents something bad from happening to someone else!
