Quote:
Originally Posted by Dudd
Does anyone have a clue how common stolen passports are? Wouldn't think too many people are cruising around Asia on stolen European passports, but you never know.
I had my passport stolen in Prague. Traveled there from Germany, stayed with a friend in his hostel. In an attempt to avoid paying occupancy, I slept on the floor in his room. We got caught by a front desk worker at night coming back to the hostel who wanted to check our names against the registry, but since he let me go up to the room thought we got away with it. The next day we went out and I foolishly left my passport behind. We were out all that day and into the night, and when I woke up the next morning my passport was gone. The room had been serviced while we were out.
To add to the fun, my friend flew out of Prague that day and I was supposed to be on a bus back to Germany, so I had no reserved/paid for lodging. Also, this was during the US invasion of Iraq, and there was significant anti-US sentiment in Europe. Someone had called in a bomb threat on the US embassy in Prague, so the whole street of embassies was blocked off and I was told I couldn't contact the US embassy for an emergency passport because they were on lockdown. Finally, I didn't have any more money and had forgotten the PIN to an emergency credit card, so I couldn't get a cash advance for the photo booth to take a passport photo and the embassy fee for an emergency passport.
I got out of the country a couple days later but my lasting lesson was that my passport has value, and any actions that leave it vulnerable - ie staying at a hotel without registering and then leaving it behind - are really dumb. I now never travel without my passport on my person.