Ask HN: Travelers who get mugged or otherwise lose all papers / cash / phone

Re:Ask HN: Travelers who get mugged or otherwise lose all pa... by notahacker on Friday March 24, 2017 @11:26AM (#13949527)

You go to your embassy/consulate in that country (or whichever other embassy has an agreement to help if your country doesn't have one) and ask for an "emergency passport" which will allow you to take a specified route back to your own country, passing through intermediate countries and spending a while there if part of your itinerary.

Normally this takes a couple of days to arrive: if you have a flight you're probably screwed, and if you have longer to wait you might be able to wait for a full passport to arrive. The country you're in might want you to go and visit their immigration office to get letters/stamps explaining your original visa went missing too (India's is particularly painful)

Having a scan of your original passport is going to help a lot (especially if hotels/guesthouses need to see your passport), but your own passport office will have your original passport details on file somewhere, so amongst other things they can confirm your application for a replacement passport is likely to be genuine.

If you need cash, there's Western Union. A good travel insurer's phone line might be able to advise on stuff like this as well as process your claim.

I know this from the experience of losing passports twice...

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Re:Ask HN: Travelers who get mugged or otherwise lose all pa... by hive_mind on Friday March 24, 2017 @01:22PM (#13950571)

How do people go to the various offices if they don't even have money for bus tickets (or a cup of coffee to wake the senses up)?

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Re:Ask HN: Travelers who get mugged or otherwise lose all pa... by notahacker on Friday March 24, 2017 @06:33PM (#13952754)

Beg, steal, borrow - something considerably less difficult for people who appear to be temporarily embarrassed middle-class Westerners who normally have access to substantial funds than those who don't have any money because they're poor. A Malaysian hostel owner told me when he lost his wallet in Chiang Mai (across the border, a long way north) whilst travelling in the 70s he worked for a month for cash to get home...

For those unlucky enough not to be surrounded by other sympathetic travellers or travel industry workers, "If I can borrow your phone/computer, I can transfer $xx either direct into your account in return for some cash or we can go to Western Union using your ID and my secret MTCN number and split the cash" is likely to work faster than money couriered from overseas.

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Re:Ask HN: Travelers who get mugged or otherwise lose all pa... by hive_mind on Saturday March 25, 2017 @02:38PM (#13956943)

This is begging for a simple solution. Just putting it out there.

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