greenery

A friend of mine was traveling solo overseas (in a third world country) and lost his wallet and hotel keys. Everything he needed was gone. He had no ID, passport, cash or credit cards. He was miles from his hotel. He had taken a bus out to a tourist attraction and was walking around and noticed his wallet/keys was missing. He did not know if he was pick pocketed- or he has lost the keys and wallet.

He had no money to call anyone.

No bus ticket back

No money for a cab or train.

All of a sudden he was worse off than anyone in the impoverished community that he was visiting.

He was stranded
==============

What would you do in a similar situation?

sadiqhassan

My question is... what did your friend do

gglave

>What would you do in a similar situation?

Beg from fellow tourists to get back to my hotel, where my "emergency money" and credit card was hidden.

Cheers,
Geoff Glave
Vancouver, Canada

Jamoldo

yeah I need to hear the end of this story. I'd beg tourists or try to befriend a local and ask for some help somehow. Risky, but sometimes you just have to have faith in mankind. Or take the bus and then skip out when asked for a ticket. Or possibly hail a cab and when it's time to pay, tell him to come with you to the hotel and arrange something with the front desk (ie. so he/she knows you aren't skipping away without paying).

jpdx

In this situation, greenery, you would need to generate some income. I'm thinking, you could approach a local publisher and offer to write a handbook for the scared traveler.

WBurcham

Just had a similar situation happen to my traveling partner in PRG last week.

We were going from the airport to our hostel (argh i hate them) and were using the bus to underground method. We get to the underground and it's crowded but we didn't realize how much so until we got on and couldn't move, Czech's were pushing on and we got separated, my rolling bag got pushed away from me, it was chaos.

I always carry my wallet and passport on my in an interior jacket pocket when i travel and in the in the pants holder i have. I felt a hand in my jeans pocket when these people were getting off the metro and mentioned it as we were leaving. She checked her bag and her wallet was gone, thankfully i had her passport but in her wallet was the cash for the hostel, all of her cards (ATM and Credit) and most of our travel documents. Needless to say the trip got very expensive for me. :-(

tkey75

When I first read that I though you wrote 'Handbook for the Screwed Traveler'.

SoFlyOn

Exactly! I always assume that I could loose my wallet (by accident or by theft).

I only carry a phototcopy of the front page of my passport, and sufficient cash for whatever I intend to do that day.

If I figure I'll need to buy something with a credit card, I will carry that, and leave my ATM/debit card safe at my hotel. If I need to use my ATM card to get cash, I leave my credit card behind.

I also keep a list of telephone numbers and web sites to use if I need to cancel any of my cards if they are lost or stolen.

John

BigBopper

Doesn't the embassy provide help in a situation like this? Assuming, of course, that you could make it to embassy.

My boss told me a story about traveling in Thailand years ago. He got on a bus from Bangkok to Phuket for the weekend. As soon as they were far enough away from civilization, armed men blocked the road and stopped the bus. Apparently my boss was able to talk them into letting keep his passport. After a long walk back to town, his embassy (he's Danish) gave him some cash and helped him get new cc's.

Guess it's a different world today. Those armed men would probably kill you or take you hostage now. He tells me the guys were actually pretty friendly and went out of their way not to harm anyone.

Pickles

I lost all my passports, resident cards, many credit cards, and travel tickets and documents in Seoul once right before a Christmas holiday break. They were in one of those Tumi travel wallets, and I left them in a taxi apparently. I still had my wallet and some cash. (I learned about this because I eventually got them back a few weeks later, when the taxi driver found them in a cleaning and sent them on to the hotel where I had been picked up. This also reminds me of the time I overpaid a Seoul taxi driver on a trip to the airport, and he parked his car and frantically looked for me up to security to return the money).

In the span of 36 hours, I was able to convince: one of my countries' embassies to issue me an emergency passport; the airline for my flight to Tokyo to take my word that a ticket existed, but the fact I didn't have it didn't mean I needed to buy a new one; Korean immigration to let me out of the country without an entry stamp; Japanese immigration to let me in as a resident with no proof of residency; the US embassy in Tokyo to issue me travel papers to re-enter the US without legit documentation; and the airline in Tokyo to let me on the plane.

I had to delay my travel to the US for one day, given all the shenanigans, and to top it all off I was flying on miles, but I was able to work it with the airline to get an open seat from a different fare bucket for the next day to be allocated to the miles bucket so I wouldn't have to buy a ticket.

Foster461

Last year I was on a biz trip to Edinburgh. I had an afternoon free so I went with a colleague into the city to do some sightseeing. We took a bus and I dropped my wallet somewhere on the bus.. Credit cards, ID, no money though (I keep cash in my pocket).

I called the bus company and I called the police to report the loss (which was my fault btw) and in each case they expressed surprise that I thought I would never see it again.

Called home, got an earful, wife cancelled all credit cards.

My colleague paid my hotel bill with her credit card and I was leaving the next day so I had enough cash to get home. About a week after I got back to the US my wallet appeared intact in my mailbox in a padded envelope, turned in by a bus company employee.

I learned a valuable lesson. When travelling, take only what you need. I didnt need vehicle registrations, Disney vacation club, Disney Dining Card, AARP card, multiple personal credit cards, supermarket loyaly cards etc etc on a biz trip.

So now I take only the minimum and I have a photocopy of my wallet with me and at home before I leave.

Spyder

Was robbed in Mexico City once. Went to the US embassy and got emergency id to re-enter the country.

I had an emergency cash stash and a bank card in my hotel room but get this:

I had left my room key in the little paper envelope they gave it to me in from the front desk when i checked in. When they robbed me they got my hotel room key, the name of the hotel room and the number of my hotel room.

I had the race the thieves back to my hotel to get the hotel to change the access to my room.

Mindwurkz

I usually stash a few extra bills here and there in my clothes, jackets, backpacks, etc. Typically travel with the minimum amount of cards, etc. Depending on where I'm going, I also keep a spare wallet. Spare wallet has a few bills in it but nothing else, usually enough to keep a mugger happy and not want to dig around for the other wallet.

PETEFLYS

I lost my wallet in a rental car in Bologna Italy a few months ago. I called Hertz and they found the wallet and returned to my hotel. I carry two wallets one I leave in the hotel safe with my passport,cash and credit cards. The second one is with a few cards,drivers license,and some daily cash.

jef7

Oh my, this will be such a nightmare!

Something I definitely hope will not experience while traveling internationally.