HAS ANYONE EVER TAKEN THEIR CAMCORDERS ON ANY TOURS? IS IT NOT WORTH IT FOR FEAR OF IT BEING STOLEN? READING ABOUT ALL THE PICKPOCKETS AND THEFT SHOULD I JUST CARRY MY CAMERA AROUND MY NECK? ANY SUGGESTIONS?

I always take my camcorder on trips. It has a neck strap and the strap is always around my neck.

After seeing others with one the first three tours and a fellow tour member sending us a copy of theirs I bought one for last years trip. A digital JVC that fit almost in the palm of my hand. Absolutely no regrets and the size made it easy to carry around either in a small camera bag or just in my hand so I always had a "handle" on where it was.

I agree, I wouldn't travel without one. When you get home it's like reliving your trip all over again. And the smaller the camcorder is, the better. I spent many vacations lugging large, heavy ones around. Now with the tiny digitals they have available, a camcorder is no trouble at all.

We just returned from Real Italy and my husband recorded our entire vacation. At the time, it was alot of trouble to be carrying the camera around and stopping to shoot different sites, but now that we're home, I am thrilled to have these wonderful memories. We never ran into any pickpocket problems and we were all over Italy. So I would suggest, if you want "living" memories instead of photos, bring your camera and just be careful. Have a great time!

By all means, bring the camcorder along. If your camcorder has a neck strap, make sure you put it around your neck.

I agree, it maybe a pain in the butt to carry it around, in the end, the footage you capture will last a lifetime.