Losing Your Passport

While I wouldn't say it was a fun time, losing my passport in Malaysia was something I will remember forever. Here's what happened:

I was traveling from Bangkok, Thailand, to Melbourne, Australia. We were about to board our 10 p.m. flight to Melbourne when I realized my passport slipped out of my carry-on bag and into the overhead compartment on my AirAsia flight. I ran through the airport with one of the TSA agents, who was so sweet and supportive, to find out the plane was gone and no one had turned in a passport. I told my friends to go on to Australia without me so they wouldn't lose money on the flight, and I got to work trying to speak with the airport workers about finding the passport. Long story short, there was a huge language barrier between me, the Malaysian airport worker, and the Thai flight crew. They eventually told me that they would just let me know if they found it. I had to wait in between gates until I figured out a plan. This was honestly one of the scariest things that has ever happened to me, and I was very worried I wouldn't be able to get to Australia or even home.

So, what are your options in this situation? Check out the official website for more detailed information. Below, I have explained the options I was given so that you can know what to expect if this ever happens to you:

1. Get a new passport from the U.S. embassy. In my case, the embassy was about an hour-and-a-half from the airport. I would have needed to take a taxi to the embassy, pay the price for a new emergency passport, and return to the airport for a new flight.

2. Have someone from the embassy come to you to get you a new passport. You can also pay a fee per hour to have someone drive to the airport, take your photo and get your information, return to the embassy, print the new passport, return to the airport and deliver the passport to you. I don't remember exactly, but I believe the fee was around $135 per hour and had to be paid in cash. In my case, this was going to cost over $1,000 after the travel time and cost of the new passport.

3. Be deported. If you are unwilling or unable to get a new passport from the embassy, you will most likely be deported. Here is an interesting article I found about this.

4. Find the passport!!! Luckily, this is what happened to me. A passenger on the original plane finally stumbled upon my passport in the overhead compartment and turned it in around 1:30 p.m. the next day. I had waited so long to make a decision on what to do that I was able to get my original passport back and book a new flight to Australia.