Passport

What Happened When I Got My Passport Stolen

I never worried about getting my passport stolen. It was one of those things I never thought to worry about. At this point I had been travelling for 12 months on my own with no real mishaps. I was excited about my trip to Mongolia…this was a place that has been on my bucket list for a long time. I did some research on it and knew I needed to take tours here as travelling around the country on my own is near impossible and not advisable.   

When I was looking at tours online, I was beginning to wonder if I could afford to stay here for as long as I had booked…25 days. The prices of the tours online were very expensive. I then started reading some blogs and they eased my fears when they recommended people to book all their tours once they get into Ulaanbaatar, and not online. So that is what I did, and it worked out perfectly. 

Passport, Mongolia

In the past 12 months I had not taken any organized tours longer than 3 days, which were trekking tours. The first tour I booked here was 15 days long. It hit almost all the places I wanted to see…local village Naadam festival, reindeer tribe, horseback riding plus extras that were nice additions to my list. First on the list was the Naadam festival. We were spending 2.5 days here for the events. I was super excited and probably gave myself a false sense of security since I was with a group. Not knowing what to expect at the festival, I brought my full day bag with me with everything in it. Never on any of the research I did, did I see anyone talking about the theft and pick pocketing here. Not that I shouldn’t be aware of my surroundings, but when I see others talking about it, I become more aware of things.   

Passport, Mongolia

With the excitement and my false sense of security I put my bag down to try my hand at an archery station. There were several people from my group with me as well as my guides. As I concentrated on doing archery, a group of people walked by and picked up my bag without me even noticing. I remember seeing them in hindsight, a group of teens, but didn’t pay attention to them. In that instance everything I had in there was gone, which was a lot more than just my passport.  

We immediately alerted the police that were there, but I knew it was gone. We all searched the area, with no luck. I was more upset at my stupidity, but I wasn’t super angry or anything. It is what it was. Two things were now on my mind.  

  1. What do I do now about my passport? I am on day 1 on a 15 day tour and already a 6-8 hour drive away from Ulaanbaatar.   
  2. How do I get my hands on a police report? This is needed to claim my stolen items with my travel insurance policy. Not only do I need this, but I also need this to be done within 24-48 hours of the incident. Make sure you read your policy, so you know what is required to claim.

Serendipity stepped in for my first concern. The one hostel we stayed at on our tour was that night and it just so happened a guy staying there worked at the Canadian Embassy. I had overheard his girlfriend talking to other people about it. I went over to him and explained what happened and asked what I needed to do. He gave me the phone number and told me to initially report it and they will take it from there. That is what I did. I explained my situation and where I was. I was lucky I had other ID back in Ulaanbaatar with the rest of my stuff I didn’t take with me. 

My guides put up signs in the town and asked around about my stuff and bag. Nothing came of it, but it was nice they did this. I did have to become pushier with them about getting a police report. They had tried a few times, but the local police were refusing to do it as they were too busy with the festival. I continued to hound them to continue to ask. On our last day there, about 3 days after the incident, we went into the police station and we finally got my police report. I basically told him what to write. I got him to write down every single item that was in my bag. It was in Mongolian, but I knew my insurance company was ok with that as they were able to get it translated without a fee for me.  

I did not let this ruin my tour and my trip. Everyone on my tour were so wonderful. If I needed money or anything, they were all up to loaning me anything and I just repaid them once back in UB. There was nothing else I could do while on this tour. Once back in UB that is where the running around came in. I had multiple appointments at the Embassy to go over everything. My passport did not turn up so that started the process of the next steps. Mongolia is not capable of producing passports, so everything had to be sent over to China to get processed.

  1. I had to fill out all the forms to get a new passport, while stating my passport was stolen.
  2. I had to pay a guarantor over there to vouch and sign it for me.
  3. I had to find 3 people at home that could vouch for me, who were not related and that I knew for more than 3 years and would be available to receive a call from the Mongolian Embassy during a work day in Canada and answer questions about me.
  4. I had to get new passport photos taken.
  5. Since I was not heading home to Canada after Mongolia, I was only able to get a temporary passport.  
  6. I had to go pick up my new passport in Thailand where I was heading next.

Most of the costs of getting a new passport were covered by my travel insurance, but not all of them. The embassy also informed me that I was going to need to change my flights to the last day I could stay in the country (Canadians get a visa free 30 days here). This now meant I needed to organize all new flights, try and get a refund from my moved flights and sort all of this out in between tours.

I had to get permission from the Embassy to go on my second tour as I didn’t know if I needed to be in town for anything else. If I got all the required things done before I left, I was good to go. It was right up to the last minute of the tour leaving that things were still happening. I had to run back to the embassy to sign more things while the tour waited for me. I was so thankful I was travelling with the same tour company as well as one of the same guides as they knew me and what was going on.  

While on the tour and I was still trying to organize my flights when we would stop for lunch breaks as there was no cell service anywhere else. Once everything was booked, I could finally enjoy the new tour. When I got back to UB I was able to pick up my temporary passport and a letter from the embassy explaining the temporary passport for the immigration at the airport.  

Leaving Mongolia brought a whole other drama…but that will be explained in a future blog post…you won’t want to miss that.  

Even though all this should have ruined my trip to Mongolia I didn’t let it. It is still one of my favourite places I have been to and I plan on going back and experiencing new things over there. It is not a place for everyone, but it is one hell of an adventure! 

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