I thought it was a fluke when a friend of mine went there last year only to have one suitcase looted of anything that could possibly be resold, including her clothing. Luckily for her, they took the Levi’s and left the Armani! I then assumed it was coincidence when another friend divulged that a few months earlier a similar thing had happened to him when traveling to South Africa. One of his two bags had been opened and anything of value liberated. As I questioned both travelers, I was surprised to discover that in both situations the cases were opened with TSA keys! In fact, in one case they even left a little note indicating it had been officially opened – how kind. Of course, I found this to be appalling, but after realizing that it was airport personnel I became twice as concerned.

As the dawning of 2008 came and went without hearing of any more incidents I began to think that either the South African government had done as promised to stop the thefts or that it was indeed mere coincidence that two of my friends had been hit. After all, I have traveled there many times and have never had this experience despite State Department warnings. However, just the other day my neighbor’s sister arrived from South Africa having gone through a similar incident. Anything remotely worthwhile was missing from the suitcase. I immediately inquired as to whether or not she had put TSA locks on and whether they were still locked, to which she replied, “Yes, my dear. The TSA locks were there and still locked. The government has apparently solved the problem. Unfortunately, they cut the bag open due to no longer having the keys.”

As I scratched my head in semi-disbelief, I reminded myself of something every international traveler must tell themselves as they click their heels three times: “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Yes Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore!

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine