When to Panic...

Ok..check your pockets. Check your bag. Empty your bag piece by piece. Have your friend check your bag, maybe you missed it.

It's gone.

Was it on the street? Did you drop it? Did it fall out? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!

Well, before you panic, don't. It's not going to help anything.

What am I talking about? My wallet was stolen on May 27th in a mall. I had just used it in a store, walked to the next and when I looked in my bag for it, the pocket it was in was opened and the wallet was gone. I did the standard search, had my friend re-search it all for me and then went into action. I went back to the 1st store, checked all around the path I had just walked, checked at the mall's information desk, at both stores once again. I went to the police station, where they told me I had to wait 3 days to report it, to give someone a chance to return it. I even went as far as to check all the garbage bins within a 2 block radius.

Still nothing.

So, again, not panicking, I went home and called my money card companies and froze my accounts. That was all that I could do for that day. I made a list of the things that were in there and went to the city's Lost and Found office to find out what I needed to do. They sent me to the Alien's Department (the literal translation to the Foreign/Immigration Office) to get a document stating I have a valid visa, as that was probably the most important thing in my wallet.

Which this is a good time to say: NEVER KEEP YOUR PASSPORT AND WALLET IN THE SAME PLACE. My saving grace was that my passport wasn't gone. Had that been the case, I would have had a huge and expensive problem on my hands.

If you are traveling around your city or not too far from home, especially in Europe, just take a copy of your passport with you. I have never been asked to identify myself with my passport unless I'm changing countries,  so again,  if you are close to home, just take a copy.

Speaking of copies, make copies of everything you carry in your wallet. I had copies of most things, which made it so much easier to replace everything because I didn't have to search for account numbers and information.

All in all, I took care of everything that I could and unfortunately,  the wallet never came back. The officials told me 80% of wallets taken in Kassel come back in the mail, the person will take the money and dump the wallet in a mailbox, which keeps it anonymous but they still get the money. I had hoped this would be the case for my situation,  but it doesn't seem to be so.

Over a month later, I'm still not panicked about it. I think it's because I was organized and was thorough with everthing after I realized it was gone. You just have to do what you can to keep yourself safe and protected AND if something does happen, it's important to stay cool, calm, and collected.