DON’T PANIC! Tips on how to handle disappearing documents/etc!

Last year I had my purse stolen here in Rome (or actually on the coast nearby in Ostia), and I unfortunately had very important things inside, including my passport!  In light of this, I thought it’d be a good idea to write a little blog about what to do should this ever happen to you, and what to expect!

BEFORE YOUR TRIP:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s a good idea to register with your home-country’s embassy before your trip!  It only takes a few minutes, but this way they will already know you are around!  This also gives them contact information, should you need any help from people back at ‘home’.

Now, take a few minutes to make some photocopies of important documents (passports, plane tickets, etc) and carry those with you.  It wouldn’t be a bad idea also to scan these photocopies and email them to yourself so you’ll always be able to print out a new one!

Alert credit card companies and your bank where applicable that you will be traveling, to avoid them possibly blocking your atm or credit cards due to ‘suspicious’ activity.

DURING YOUR TRIP:

Unless you’re traveling, ie: crossing international borders by train or plane, you probably don’t need to always have your original document on you.  A photocopy should be sufficient.  Most hotels will have a safe you can store things like this in.

Don’t keep everything in the same place!  For example I left my driver’s license and a credit card at home always, just in the unlikely event everything else disappeared.  Keep something at your hotel or apartment, just in case!

Now, lets say your documents (passport, id cards) were all lost/stolen. Don’t panic!  It was a scary situation even for me, and I’ve been living abroad for years now!

You really need to file a “denuncia”, which is a police report, at a local Questura (police station).  They will be as helpful as they can, and they usually have a form to fill out in English as well.  They might not be able to recover your things, but you never know.  Plus you will need to bring a copy of this ‘denuncia’ to your embassy when applying for new documents.  Also, should you have travel insurance which will cover theft during your trip, they will most definitely want to see this police report.  If you’re unsure where to go, someone at your hotel/hostel will definitely be happy to help.  I myself just asked some police on the street and they pointed me in the direction of a nearby police station.

Did you know that your embassy can issue emergency passports?  I got my emergency passport at the USA Embassy in just 2 hours!  The cost will vary, depending on your embassy, but my emergency passport cost me 70 euros/100 us dollars (which actually also covers the cost of my permanent/regular passport I got later).

Also:  make a note of your embassy’s hours, as a lot of them are only open certain hours in the morning and are closed on weekends.  They will have an emergency number in case you need to speak to someone outside of these hours.

HERE’S a map of the Embassies in Rome!

As for any credit cards and bank cards that might have been lost or stolen, you will want to call and cancel them right away.  Most banks and credit cards have an international number to call while abroad,  which is usually on the back of your actual card.  BUT!  That won’t help you if the cards missing, right?  That’s another thing to have written down somewhere (at home, which a family member you can contact, etc)!  You might also want to have the actual numbers of the cards written down somewhere, so you can be sure to communicate clearly with the bank/credit card company.  For example in my own unfortunate case, the bank cancelled the WRONG credit card…which you can imagine irritated an already difficult situation.

WHEN TRAVELING BACK HOME:

Most airport personnel have seen emergency replacement passports before, so there shouldn’t be an issue. But, just in case, it wouldn’t hurt to have a copy of the police report and the paperwork that came along with your replacement passport.

NOW…take a deep breath! That was easier to resolve than you thought, right?