(MONEY Magazine) – I wish I'd read May's "How to Protect Yourself on the Road" before my recent trip to Barcelona. In an underground parking lot there one morning, a man grabbed my purse. As I held tight, he dragged me backward until I crashed into a marble staircase, breaking my thighbone. Luckily, my husband had taken out a traveler's insurance policy -- 30 days of coverage for $67 with Europ Worldwide Assistance Services in Washington, D.C. I had a hip replacement done by a fine orthopedic surgeon in an excellent Barcelona hospital, and our insurance paid more than $15,000 of the total $20,000 bill. The insurance company even flew a nurse from the U.S. to Barcelona to facilitate our flight back to California, then sent us home first class. Protect yourself with travel insurance. And never carry a purse when you're abroad. Ironically, only my sunglasses and driver's license were in the purse I was carrying. All the rest of my valuables were pinned under my shirt in a concealed traveler's purse.

Sylvia London Auburn, Calif.

I often travel overseas. On every trip I carry about $30 worth of $2 bills. Once, when my son and I were in Hamburg, Germany, a thief took our billfolds from our room during the night. He also robbed other hotel rooms. I immediately informed the very efficient German police that I had $30 worth of U.S. $2 bills and, since they are rare overseas, anyone going to a bank with $2 bills would be a likely suspect. Shortly before noon a man went to the railroad station bank to exchange a stack of $2 bills for German currency. The police took him into custody and searched his room, where they found articles and cash stolen from people in my hotel. Carrying $2 bills is just like traveling with marked money. F. Donald Haygood, M.D. Tyler, Texas