have you ever lost a passport?

-m2-

a lost or stolen passport is a traveller's nightmare -- fortunately it is a rare occurence, but it does occasionally happen to the unlucky and/or unwary. I thought it might be useful to share our experiences here as we have many veteran as well as novice travellers and it might be helpful to know:

1. circumstances of loss/theft (first or reliable 2nd-hand reports, no legends)
2. how the situation was resolved
3. lesson learned, new habits etc.

For me, I finally got hit in Bukkit Lawang, Indonesia in 1996.

1. While sleeping in small guesthouse room with a barred window (jail-style vertical bars) with my neckbag inside a daypack which was locked and cradled in my arms on the bed -- I assume it was 'fished' out with a pole, the bag slashed and the passport, money and tc's taken, the airticket left, and the bag returned to my side while I slept!

2. reported to local police and a obtained several copies of a report in english and indonesian, I telephoned Amex and reported checks stolen.
-- with secondary ID (birth certificate, photo driver's licence, and social insurance card) and emergency cash from money belt, was able to proceed to Medan (Sumatra) and was fortunate in that the Honorary British Consulate could act for Canadians and expedited new passport (approx 1 week) rather than requiring a trip to Jakarta. Having the physical i.d. saved at least another week as info would have to be verified by telex otherwise. Cost was around $75 for 1 yr passport (free extension to 5 yrs when I got home). Amex office replaced checks after 4 or 5 days of dithering (I had the original receipts and police report too).

Since this proceedure was going to delay my departure past my visa date, this also required several visits to immigration who also wanted to see the police report, tickets etc. and finally wrote a notation into new passport when it arrived and I had no further problem with them.

3. I have always been quite security conscious and I took this as more of a fluke than a real slip-up on my part. The separation of the stolen valuables from the secondary ID, and having a hidden cash stash made this go fairly smoothly but I wouldn't wish the experience on anyone. I now use a 'travel safe' , described elsewhere, which should prevent a 'fishing' type robbery by securing the valuables stash to something solid.

Two 2nd hand incidents I know of directly:

1. valuables were placed in day pack and slid under seat on overnight Thai bus. the pack had a neat slit in it by morning and stuff gone, but wasn't noticed until victim looked for money to pay taxi for ride to his hotel.

2. while fishing from a deserted rocky outcrop on Thai island, a daypack with valuables was left on rock and drifted away with the rising tide which had gone unnoticed while my friend was engrosed in fishing.

I don't know how smoothly these cases were resolved.

Has anyone else some experience to relate?

m2

maree

No.... but I sent it to the laundry in Ecuador by mistake. It came back squeaky clean with half of the stamps washed off and the photo page peeling in one corner. That morning we were taking a bus to Quito and I sat holding my passport out the window drying it page by page. I stuck the photo page down with a bit of glue and was able to keep travelling with it for the rest of the year. Although some customs people commented on the condition of it (and the Indian guy at the consulate in Islamabad was complaining about it) everybody let me in and out of their countries... I guess I don't look like a terrorist or like someone who would falsify a passport. Used it to go to India last Christmas too... I did have a phonecall from the embassy here saying they would grant me the visa but if the authorities in India didn't let me in then too bad. And this year I have a brand spanking new one... empty save a Thailand business visa... 2 weeks to go

paan wallah

haha this thread is actually on my top list..

since one week I m looking for my passport in my flat,

It looks like I ve thrown away my passport(6 years travelling memories)by mistake with some old newspapers and other stuff..

tomorrow I ll spent another day looking for it

on my trips I ve never passports or similiar documents,always carrying photocopies of my documents...

wonderwomanusa

I've never lost my passport, but one time I spilled a very messy meal on it, which obliterated the name and date info, so I had to go to the American Consulate in Calcutta to get a new one. They were quick about it; I think it only took one day. And the photographer (somewhere around Sudder St) took wonderful photos!

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Samsara

I've never had my passport stolen but I once left my handbag accidentally on the London Tube . It was the last train of the night and for some reason it terminated at a station way before the end of the line, which was where I needed to go (the end of the line) and where it was supposed to go. I was so confused by this that I jumped out at the station where it had terminated, well before the usual stop, leaving my handbag on the seat. My handbag contained my airticket back to Australia, over one hundred pounds in cash, and my passport. I was devastated. But in a series of moves, which I can't quite remember clearly as it was so long ago, my bag was handed back to me eventually at the small station where the empty train had been taken to (where it was terminating sans passengers), a day or so later, where at first they (the station master and staff) had denied, to the Tube police, that they had my bag. Thank God for the Tube Police, they got my bag back, though it was missing the money, but I didn't care, I had my passport and my airticket back. What a miracle, thanks to the marvellous men of the London Underground Transport Police. They really pursued the matter for me. I think I realised that I had left the bag on the seat not long after I jumped out, but by then the empty train was disappearing down the tunnel. I told the station personnel and they said they would or I should (can't remember the details it was so long ago but everybody was very helpful) contact the station where the train was disappearing off to. I guess they might have had cleaners there that go through the train and hand in lost property? I don't know. But when I asked at the station I was told my bag hadn't been handed in. And then I don't remember how the Transport Police got involved...but they did, and they got my bag back from me. They must have talked to all the personnel at that station. I just looked them up on the Net (just now, as I was thinking, who were these men? This thread brought back the memory for the first time since it happened, which was well over a decade ago), British Police Transport Division and they have a London Underground Division.

The moral of this story is don't go around late at night carrying a handbag with lots of cash and vital documents anywhere. I mean, I left the handbag on a seat, but what if I had been mugged? I was very ditzy in those days...(I will confess, though it is embarrassing, I was mugged three times in Sydney, only for my money, thank goodness, over the years I lived there. I've never been mugged anywhere else in the world, but I'm sure this is accidental, as I used to do the stupidest things, though not on purpose. I only realise they were stupid now, looking back. I once left a small carry on bag in the airport taxi on one arrival back in Australia. It contained a solid gold bangle, a present from my Indian rellies as for Indians this is a tradition, it must have cost them a lot of money, and loads of books I had bought overseas. I got the bag back finally, it was left for some reason at Macquarie University, half the city away, why I don't know. The bangle was there too, but then along the way, not long after, I managed to lose the bangle. Now I feel very sad about it. Once I lost a valuable book on the lawn in front of my Uni library, it was a modern English translation of the Theodosian Code, it was huge, it was there in my hand, and then it was gone...but a week later it was found on the library shelves, which was a relief as it would have been expensive to explain away the loss).

So all these experiences have made me very paranoid now. And I hope I have more sense nowadays, though I'm not sure that would help, considering what happened to M2 despite all his precautions.

Bryan

once lost it in Calcutta.
Thought it had been stolen
Doen the usual reporting until when i went to pick up my new passport at the consulate I was welcomed by the words

Aren't you a lucky boy
Someone had handed it into the police which anywhere but Calcutta ould have amazed me but then the police handed into the consulate which really confused me
Obviously eversince Calcutta is my favourite Indian city

Also burnt the same passport In Thailand. I wont tell you the background to how I got into such a state to do something so stupid
But I'd hid it in my bin while I partied
emptied my bin the next day onto a fire to helplessly wacth it catch fire
Got a new one all the same but lost all my stamps from 7 years of travelling. Some lessons have to be learnt the hard way

And now a question to anyone
Is it true that the british governemtn will only issue three passports
That is they will only replace a stolen or lost passport 3 times then they will not issue you witha new one or is this a traveller myth

-m2-

...hmmm... sending to the laundry, throwing it out with the newspapers, dumping a sloppy meal on it, leaving it on a train, setting it afire....so there is more than one way of losing one's passport -- am I the only one who went for the old fashioned way of just letting a thief get at it?

m2

-m2-

paan wallah: I'll bet you a Kingfisher that it turns up a week or so after you go through the hurdles and get your new one (the wager to be settled in Arambol)

About now, I'm expecting a story about how someone had their passport out while doing some homework for school and the dog ate it.

m2

paan wallah

jipieh I found my passport today after searching for a whole day long.....a very nice sideeffect was that my flat is all cleaned up now
so next week I m going to buy a ticket to sri lanka ,just to begin somewhere
btw getting a new pasport in germany can take up to 7 weeks!


and for sure I ll have more than one kingfisher!!!!

neoncarrot

Yep m2, really embarrasing. I laundered my passport with my trousers in Kathmandu a few years ago, then got another stolen in Bangkok last year. The embassy only gave me a 12 month replacement (renewable for free) as a kind of punishment for daring to get ripped off.

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Samsara

I'm so happy for you, paan wallah.

-m2-

glad to hear it showed up before you went through the hassle, pw; not sure how that affects the wager -- since it did show up, albeit early, perhaps I still get part credit. Anyway, if you get to Goa this winter we can discuss it over a few KFs

m2

paan wallah

btw how s the beer in sri lanka?

-m2-

it's been 10 yrs since I was there and I really don't remember anything about the beer so probably didn't drink any which could mean it wasn't widely available cold, it was expensive or not very good, or I wasn't drinking much beer in those days anyway