Look after your valuables on holiday

by Liz Eagles 08.01.12 11:46

You go on holiday and you have passports, money, keys to your house back in UK, travellers cheques maybe, credit cards, possibly a bit of jewellery, a mobile phone, your tickets, your travel insurance documents etc. So, you're really pleased to see there is a safe in your apartment. It's great, it even comes with a digital thingy that you just decide on a code and you don't have to carry a key.

Does anyone know if there were safes in those apartments and if so were the contents checked? were the digital codes checked (they can be very revealing)?

by **tigger** 08.01.12 12:04

There had been a very recent spate of burglaries in PdL and the OC. The whole group were warned about this. Mrs. Fenn even surprised a burglar in her flat. We never hear about this, anyone know of a thread which has this information?
Leaving a patio door open in a flat where a burglar has struck (I think only a week before) is not a rational decision.

Aquila, I doubt very much whether there were safes in the apartments, probably in the central office - this is quite usual in hotels - where the guests can leave their valuables.

The PJ photos show the table at 5a, curiously there are four passports, not five. These photographs were taken that night or in the morning? I would think before anything was disturbed. So when did the PJ take Maddie's passport, because the baby photo in it was as useless as the two that were already doing the rounds.
I feel this minor point needs to be explained in view of the fact that actual proof of Maddie in PdL during that week is almost non existent.

In his phone call to his family, Gerry told them 'no valuables had been taken' - well apart from your daughter, but what the hell.This also implies that they checked whether the cameras, passports etc. were present.

by Guest 08.01.12 12:08

aquila wrote:You go on holiday and you have passports, money, keys to your house back in UK, travellers cheques maybe, credit cards, possibly a bit of jewellery, a mobile phone, your tickets, your travel insurance documents etc. So, you're really pleased to see there is a safe in your apartment. It's great, it even comes with a digital thingy that you just decide on a code and you don't have to carry a key.

Does anyone know if there were safes in those apartments and if so were the contents checked? were the digital codes checked (they can be very revealing)?

Room Facilities:
All linen and bath towels, phones, TV, kettle, toasters, ovens, crockery, cutlery, fridge. Hairdryers available to hire at €10 per week. Safety deposit boxes available in reception.

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by Guest 08.01.12 12:12

The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?

by jd 08.01.12 12:39

It doesn't make sense they left the apartment unlocked as someone could have stolen the bottles of New Zealand wine from the fridge...imagine the distress this would have caused!! winkwink

Yes the photo of only 4 passports is intriguing and it would be good to know when this was photo taken. On the night and untouched from when they entered the apartment? or had the PJ taken Maddies passport straight away and then took the picture. Is this a subtle clue from the PJ perhaps?

by Genbug 08.01.12 12:42

Jean wrote:The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?

Hi Jean, children's passports have to be renewed every five years. Was the same with one of my grandchildren, we took him on holiday aged four and his passport photo showed him aged five months!

by Guest 08.01.12 12:46

I think the GNR would have immediately seized Madeleine's passport on arrival and the photo of the remaining passports was much later on when Barreiras arrived to take the first set of apartment photos. There's nothing unusual about that.

by **PeterMac** 08.01.12 13:07

Genbug wrote:
Jean wrote:The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?
Hi Jean, children's passports have to be renewed every five years. Was the same with one of my grandchildren, we took him on holiday aged four and his passport photo showed him aged five months!

Even more incredibly - when children's passports first came out I was asked to counter sign for several, and had to sign to say I had known the "person on the photo" for 5 years, even though they were clearly only 2 months old.
They changed it fairly soon afterwards !

by jd 08.01.12 13:10

PeterMac wrote:
Genbug wrote:
Jean wrote:The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?
Hi Jean, children's passports have to be renewed every five years. Was the same with one of my grandchildren, we took him on holiday aged four and his passport photo showed him aged five months!
Even more incredibly - when children's passports first came out I was asked to counter sign for several, and had to sign to say I had known the "person on the photo" for 5 years, even though they were clearly only 2 months old.
They changed it fairly soon afterwards !

This is like filling out government official forms and the last question is "are you registered blind"! (if I was blind I would't be able to fill out the form!)

by Liz Eagles 08.01.12 13:30

jd wrote:
PeterMac wrote:
Genbug wrote:
Jean wrote:The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?
Hi Jean, children's passports have to be renewed every five years. Was the same with one of my grandchildren, we took him on holiday aged four and his passport photo showed him aged five months!
Even more incredibly - when children's passports first came out I was asked to counter sign for several, and had to sign to say I had known the "person on the photo" for 5 years, even though they were clearly only 2 months old.
They changed it fairly soon afterwards !

This is like filling out government official forms and the last question is "are you registered blind"! (if I was blind I would't be able to fill out the form!)

remember that blind UK citizens used to get a tiny discount for a colour tv licence....

by **PeterMac** 08.01.12 13:40

jd wrote:
This is like filling out government official forms and the last question is "are you registered blind"! (if I was blind I would't be able to fill out the form!)

Or when it says right at the end, in very small print - Also available in Braille -

by Shibboleth 08.01.12 13:42

Jean wrote:The passport photo of Madeleine as a baby puzzles me. Can a more seasoned traveller than me (I've never had a passport!) advise on how often the photos of children have to be updated?

After 5 years. My children have UK passports, they had their pictures taken as babies for the first passport and then I did not have to renew it again for 5 years.

by Liz Eagles 08.01.12 14:09

PeterMac wrote:
jd wrote:
This is like filling out government official forms and the last question is "are you registered blind"! (if I was blind I would't be able to fill out the form!)
Or when it says right at the end, in very small print - Also available in Braille -

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by Liz Eagles 09.01.12 0:27

Thanks for the posts re no safes in the apartments (although if these were private apartments they may well have had a safe for their owners to use even if MW did not offer the facility in their brochure).

Just wondering how many of the T9 used the safe facility in the reception area? and if they did, how often did they request access to their safe? what a great public place to easily stash all manner of things IMO. As the Mcs seem to have been out of their apartment a lot and according to rogatory statements they left the patio door open, are we to believe that they left their valuables? I am not talking about leaving the kids - that's just too horrible to think about and has been discussed greatly).

If any of the T9 had indeed used the safe facility in reception were they given keys to their own safe box? keys are very easy to swap eh?

As with all things in this case, confusion is the master. Something simple may well be the ankle breaker.

by **PeterMac** 09.01.12 8:22

aquila wrote:Thanks for the posts re no safes in the apartments (although if these were private apartments they may well have had a safe for their owners to use even if MW did not offer the facility in their brochure).
Just wondering how many of the T9 used the safe facility in the reception area? and if they did, how often did they request access to their safe? what a great public place to easily stash all manner of things IMO. As the Mcs seem to have been out of their apartment a lot and according to rogatory statements they left the patio door open, are we to believe that they left their valuables?...

The PJ photo clearly shows that they did exactly that, giving us the neat stack of passports, (but only 4 !), which is on top of the print out of the Easyjet schedule, keys - which look as though they include a car and some house keys - (might well be Rothley and car at EMA), a wallet, and a pair of dirty socks. Also some lipsyl, and a box of tablets which I do not recognise, but will probably be in the PJ list.
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by Guest 09.01.12 8:50

I always thought that was a box of boots plasters. big grin

by sammyc 09.01.12 11:44

At least Gerry did look after his valuables on holiday - his tennis racquet didn't leave his side much did it?

by **tigger** 09.01.12 12:33

PeterMac wrote:
aquila wrote:Thanks for the posts re no safes in the apartments (although if these were private apartments they may well have had a safe for their owners to use even if MW did not offer the facility in their brochure).
Just wondering how many of the T9 used the safe facility in the reception area? and if they did, how often did they request access to their safe? what a great public place to easily stash all manner of things IMO. As the Mcs seem to have been out of their apartment a lot and according to rogatory statements they left the patio door open, are we to believe that they left their valuables?...
The PJ photo clearly shows that they did exactly that, giving us the neat stack of passports, (but only 4 !), which is on top of the print out of the Easyjet schedule, keys - which look as though they include a car and some house keys - (might well be Rothley and car at EMA), a wallet, and a pair of dirty socks. Also some lipsyl, and a box of tablets which I do not recognise, but will probably be in the PJ list.
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This is the reason I find the four passports so weird: if there had been a pile of five, I would not expect to have the keys and the scrap of paper neatly replaced on top when they took Maddie's passport. I'll have to look it up, but I think Maddie's passport was delivered to the PJ the following day. So why wasn't it with the others?
It's as if everything pertaining to her is already gone: her trainers, her blanket disappeared after the photographs were taken, her toothbrush, hairbrush, her scent or DNA on pretty well everything except cuddle cat. No toys, no passport. Which must have already been put aside imo, ready for the aftermath.