How to deal with lost passport while travelling?

It feels like the end of the world when it happens – losing your passport, having your cash stolen or both when visiting a foreign country. But it’s not, as many travellers will attest. Here are ways in which you can be prepared for and handle such a situation.

Keep a backup ready
Your passport is your most important proof of identity. If you lose it while travelling abroad, file a police complaint. The next step is to apply for a temporary passport from the Indian embassy. The procedure can take up to two weeks. The police complaint serves as an identity proof for bank and embassy formalities. In the eventuality of a worse situation, where you’ve lost your purse too, request a friend or family member back home to wire money to you.

Free Wi-Fi hotspots are found in most foreign cities, making it easy for you to establish contact with loved ones via email. Leave your hotel number with them so that they can contact you. Yogesh M Shah, who’s from a travel firm that specialises in international tours, says he insists that travellers carry a colour photocopy of their passports on them, and keep it in a bag or purse different from where they are carrying the original. “The best option, of course, is to email a scanned copy of your passport and visa to yourself. Keep your credit card details, bank account numbers, tickets and contact numbers of the Indian embassy handy in the city you are visiting.” If your passport goes missing, Shah suggests you hit the nearest cyber cafe, take a printout of the scan and hand it over to the embassy, bank or travel agency.

Technology to your rescue

A trip to Rome earlier this year taught Mumbai-based travel photographer Sebastian Zachariah to pick backpacks over sling bags. “A fellow traveller was carrying a sling bag, waiting to board a local train. As she stepped on the footboard, a man cut off the strap and scooted away with her bag. The train door closed behind her, and there wasn’t much I could do,” he remembers.
Zachariah has stopped carrying important documents on him while he is out sightseeing. “I have scanned copies of the documents I can access via email on my phone if I need them. Once, on a trip to Spain, I was stopped by the city police. My passport was lying in my hotel room locker. Showing them the scan on my phone worked fine,” he says. Zachariah recommends an Android app called WorldMate to travellers. It acts as your itinerary manager and stores all trivial, but important details such as your boarding ticket number, flight departure time and gate number, hotel booking and cab rental details, flight delay alerts and passport particulars.
Travel cash-free
Money is a lure for muggers. Travelling without cash makes things easier, and leaves you worry-free. Ramya R, a banking professional travelling to Europe last year, kept around $500 handy to use as cab fare, and bought a forex card to use while footing larger bills. “When on the move, I carry my credit card in my waist pouch and my forex card in the backpack. Besides my watch, I don’t wear any jewellery,” she says. A forex card is a smart option since it lets you access money in the required regional currency. Forex cards are cost effective and do not charge an extra 3% as service charge when used. You are also spared the fluctuating currency rate, as the exchange rate gets locked in once you buy it. You need to submit a copy of your passport along with a fee of between 100 and 300 to acquire this card from a bank.

Start net banking
If you are still not banking on the internet, it’s a good idea to activate a web account, and acquire a password before you set out on your trip. “If you happen to lose all your money and cards, all you have to do is find a free Wi-Fi hotspot to block the stolen cards,” says Ramya. “Besides, you can easily make a fund transfer into a friend’s account, if you are travelling with one, to access your money.”

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