Written by DIWYY co-founder, Kristina Wegscheider, who has traveled to 48 countries in the last eight years.
Passport. Credit Cards. Airline Itineraries. All important documents and cards you have with you when you travel. But what if your bag gets stolen and suddenly you find yourself with none of the above? Don’t panic….instead, follow my tips below for preventive measures you can take to help get your life in order if the worst case scenario does occur.
Passport:
Keep your passport in a safe place at all times. Determine if the hotel safe or with you is safer. I usually opt for the latter. In this case, I often will carry a purse with my other valuables (wallet, camera, phone) and will have my passport in a separate smaller pouch that I either wear under my clothes (like a money belt) or across my body. I have a great passport-size pouch I bought in Ecuador and, often times, I will bring that with to keep just my passport in. In the event you do get robbed, you can surrender your purse to get out of the situation safely and hopefully retain your passport.
If your passport does get lost or stolen, you need to report it immediately to your nearest Embassy or Consulate. And to expedite this, I recommend doing the following:
1) Put the phone number and address for the nearest Embassy or Consulate in your mobile phone as well as in your web-based email (as a note). Your phone is a handy resource to keep helpful numbers like this but I recommend also putting the same info in your email since you can access that from an Internet Café if need be. For US citizens, check out this handy reference from the Department of State.
2) Keep a few extra passport photos with you in a separate area from your purse and passport. Having these images will expedite the processing of your new document by the Embassy staff.
3) Also, keep a couple extra copies of the photo page of your passport with you (in multiple places, if possible). Keep them in different areas than where you keep your passport. If you have access to a scanner, make a copy and keep it in your web-based email as an attachment.
Credit Cards and Wallet Contents:
If you’re like me, your life is in your wallet. My first bit of advice is to downsize from your everyday wallet to a travel wallet. I really don’t need my department store credit cards and that card I have from the local frozen yogurt shop that is helping me earn some free treats. Instead, I bring the bare minimum: driver’s license, 1-2 credit/debit cards, airline frequent flyer cards, and maybe a few others that I find relevant (AAA card and student ID for discounts, Starbuck’s card for the airport, etc). Now, here are preventative steps I take, just in case:
1) I make a photo copy of my driver’s license to leave at home. Getting a new one will require a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles but it’s not the end of the world. Check with your local authorities but, in many cases, you just need to report your document as lost or stolen, complete a form, and pay a fee for a replacement card.
2) Regarding credit and debit cards, I have mixed feelings about calling ahead. The one time I ever called my bank to tell them I was traveling, they blocked my debit card!! Here I am traveling in India, no problems. I cross the border to Nepal and suddenly my funds are blocked. Luckily, I had really nice trip mates who loaned me money but, since then, I have not called. With credit cards, I have had better luck. They usually seem appreciative of the information and can give you info about currency conversion rates and the fees.
3) Before I leave home, I make a file of what cards I am bringing and their phone numbers (be sure to get a local phone number too since the toll-free ones won’t work outside your home country). I keep this paper separate from my wallet too. If my cards are stolen, I can quickly call the bank and report it. As a back-up, you can call the bank before you leave, give a family member permission to access your account on your behalf, and then, if a problem does arise, you can contact your family member who can call all the banks for you. But, you will need to authorize the permission ahead of time since the banks will not release info to anyone besides the cardmember and their authorized delegates.
4) I do the same with other cards but those can fall to a lower priority. I mean, how much damage can someone really do with my AAA card or my student ID?
5) Be selective with gift cards too since each merchant has varying policies on balance protection. Some merchants will protect the balance if you register with them while it won’t matter to others. If you have high-balance cards, I would recommend leaving them at home.
In Lumbini, Nepal, right before I found out my Debit card wouldn’t work.
Travel Info:
A thief probably doesn’t care what airline you’re flying home but it probably matters a lot to you! As a pre-caution, I take the following steps:
1) On my smartphone, I block my calendar from first flight departure to final arrival flight as one item with all my major, international flight data in the body. It makes a quick reference for remembering what time my flights are supposed to take off and land. I also add hotel and car rental reservations so I have everything at my fingertips and am not wasting paper.
2) But, as a back-up to this, I also put all the same info in my web-based email. Since you usually get an email confirmation with all your travel details, I take that information and make a folder for the specific trip.
3) I also email the relevant data to a family member who I can contact if I need it for some reason. This can come in handy if you are in a remote location without Internet. Someone will probably have a phone and you can call your contact to get details if need be.
A little work before your trip can give you reassurance that if something does happen, you have a plan. Be sure to also read my post on 12 Safety Tips for Women that was recently featured on I Wish Gap Year’s website.
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Cool post
I know others that have had problems with ATMs in Nepal!
This is fantastic information that I will share with my daughter. Thank you for taking the time to put this in writing. Good luck to you in all your travels. RA
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