Travel tip

Going on a road trip? Plan to drive through Houston, Texas? If you decide to make a quick stop at a local restaurant in Houston, Texas, take your luggage inside the restaurant. You may get resistance at first, but tell the restaurant staff that you refuse to take any chances with your personal belongings.

In our robbery case, we can't rewind time back to avoid dining at an Italian restaurant. This restaurant decides that keeping their security on the clock during the afternoon is probably unnecessary. In result, the gap in time gave the robbers plenty of leeway to shatter the window and remove our valuables. 

The robbers hit the best car. They could not see inside the car with the tinted windows, though our out-of-state license plates and or possibly an insider tipped the robbers off. You can smell a rotten egg a mile away. Why sit on a video surveillance tape filming the robbers in action? Refusing to contact a third party to request valuable information is another red flag.

We almost left the Italian restaurant. If we took our 2 luggage suitcases, a large bag, a leather bag, and a few other bags into the restaurant, maybe the restaurant staff would think we're crazy. 

You have a right to overreact. Protecting your valuables is the responsible thing to do. When the time comes to accept responsibility, don't expect the police department and the restaurant to pursue the case. The next time you dine inside a restaurant while relocating and or taking a road trip, be smart and take your valuable possession inside with you. It only takes a few minutes to lose everything. 

In a robbery/theft case, the restaurant and the police department will look way. It is easier to ignore a crime rather than solve it. Maybe the police department will contact me in a year to tell us that we need to ask some questions about the loss. Save yourself the pain - take your possessions in the restaurant. If the restaurant has a problem with your luggage, then tell them you will take your business to another restaurant.