What I Learned When I Got My Passport Stolen
There are a lot of fears that sneak into your brain when you think about travelling. You hope that everything goes smoothly but worry about something going wrong. Having your passport stolen is something a lot of people fear. I am here to share my experience of exactly this happening to me while I was travelling in Mongolia. There was a lot I learned when I got my bag and passport stolen in Mongolia. Hopefully my mistakes will help you not to have this happen to you. If it does though, you will now know what to do.
Don’t drop your guard because you are on a tour
I was not use to being on an organized tour. This gave me a false sense of security and I dropped my guard.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Overall, I didn’t put everything in one basket. I made sure I only took with me on the tour 1 bank card and 1 credit card. Photocopies of those cards/passport plus my other cards, I left in my bag that I stored at my hostel. But I did put all my money, cards, passport, all my camera gear, and every single thing that I “needed” daily in my day bag. And that was the bag that was stolen
USE that money belt
Again, that false sense security. I didn’t use my money belt while I was on this tour. All my important things were kept in my bag. I should have kept them on my person in a money belt. This left me with no money, no cards with me, a stolen passport, and camera gear gone among other things.
Have your embassy information with you
I didn’t know what steps to do when your passport was stolen. I was lucky to meet someone from the Embassy the day it happened where we were staying. There are many easier things to do than just rely on luck. For Canadians, download the app Travel Smart. For Americans, download the app Smart Traveler. These lists all the information of Canadian/American embassy’s all over the world along with emergency numbers. If you are not tech savvy, write down these numbers before you leave home and keep them with you…and hopefully they won’t be in the stuff you get stolen.
Stay calm
Yes, it totally sucks that this happened but there was no point to let it upset me so much that it would ruin this experience I have waited so long to do. I took the rest of that day to myself and just processed things. I thought of the things that I was thankful for. Most importantly I still had my phone, I still had my camera body and one lens, and I didn’t lose any photos. I was also with a group of people that were willing to help me out with anything that I needed until we got back to UB. I let it go and moved on to enjoying the adventure that had just started.
Keep all your receipts
Any costs associated to getting a new passport, get a receipt where you can. Write down any costs that you can’t get a receipt for. Keep these in a file so they can be submitted to your insurance company to try and get back.
Be adamant about getting a police record asap
Your travel insurance company will usually require a police report to be completed 24-48 hours after the incident for it to be claimable. Know how much time you have. Make sure you have all the details down in the police report of what was stolen.
Call your insurance company asap
Keep them up to date as to what is going on, what you are having problems with and see how lenient they are. The more you communicate with them, the better they will be.
Call the embassy asap
You want to let them know your passport has been stolen asap so they can flag it and get the process started. They will also be able to help you troubleshoot any problems you are having and let you know the next steps be taken.
Ask your insurance company if they need an English version of the police report
Some insurance companies require you to have an English version translated officially (which you will need to pay for). In more remote places you will need to have this done in country. You may not be able to find someone to do this at home.
Know how long you have to claim
When you have a lot of things to claim you may not have all the receipts with you that you’ll need to submit. This process is going to take you a chunk of time to complete all the forms. You want to make sure you have all your i’s dotted and t’s crossed. I had 12 months from the incident to claim. I was able to do this once I got home from my travels, which made things much easier.
Don’t cheap out on travel insurance
It is very tempting to go with the cheapest price on insurance. There are many horror stories of people doing this and having nothing but problems in trying to get their money back on insurance claims. They also find out small print things of what is not covered when they thought it was covered. Make sure you read all that is covered and not covered. Yes it is boring, but you want to make sure you have it for what you need it for. Ask around and see who others are using and were happy with. Make sure you talk to people who have had to use it for a claim.
In the end, yes, it was a big pain the butt to get everything sorted. Filling out all the paperwork was super annoying, but everything worked out. I got a new passport, I was not stranded and no one died. Once you know what needs to be done if something goes wrong, that fear dissipates. This lets you enjoy your holiday a whole lot more. I hope these tips I learned the hard way help to alleviate your fears of getting your passport stolen.