One night, in January 2022, I was walking back to my place on the wonderful island of Roatan, in Honduras. Although the area was generally safe, the road I had to walk was dark and uphill into the jungle about 10 minutes. But generally safe means that shit can still happen. And this one night, as I was literally 2 minutes from my place, from behind a small building jumps out a guy with a knife. He must’ve seemed not too threatening to me, because my instinct was more Crocodile Dundee than scared: I said something to the effect of “seriously bro?” and just kept walking. He grabbed my arm just as another guy pops out from a bush with a gun. Dude with the gun pushed me down and dude with the knife slices off the strap of my bag and off they run far into the jungle. No harm done physically except for a banged up knee. And my bag was just stuff… but it had EVERYTHING that mattered in it: my credit and debit cards, my keys, my phone and tablet, and worst of all, my passport. Let’s break it down and talk about how you can be prepared to lose your shit while traveling.
Keys: I was really really lucky that the place I rented was also occupied by the owner. It was a bed & breakfast on the second floor, with some private, ensuite apartments on the lower level. After the robbery, I yelled for help and since I was so close to the apartment, the owner came out to help me and let me in. But what if you don’t have this option? If you’re not in a hotel or hostel that has a manned desk, then this could be a sticky situation - especially if you don’t have a phone to call anyone. Find out if there is a spare hiding anywhere, and if not, is there a safe and secure hiding spot for your keys? Maybe the host can provide a lockbox for your keys, so you can safely lock them up rather than taking them with you. Some places have a number code lock, which is a great option to not lose your keys - be sure to remember the code and ensure that they change it between guests. Lesson learned: If you have physical keys to your place, hide them in a secure place on property or on your body somewhere - not in a bag or wallet that could be stolen.
Credit and debit cards: Make sure you have more than one of each and keep them separate. I actually travel with 3 credit cards and 2 debit cards. The 3 credit card rule is also a result of this situation: Just a few days before the robbery, I had the card number stolen online to my primary credit card. But no problem, right? I had my back-up credit card with me. Well, that got stolen in the robbery and now I have no credit cards. Quite often my debit cards get declined when I’m traveling outside of the country - even when I flag that I am traveling (plus, I love earning travel points from my credit cards!) My primary debit card got stolen, but again, I thought, “no big deal” because I have a back-up debit card from an account I only keep for emergencies like this, which I keep very little cash in. But when I tried to transfer cash to my back-up bank account, it wouldn’t let me because of 2-factor authentication - I didn’t have my phone any longer to be able to tap on the app to prove that it was me. Lucky for me I was able to have my sister send cash to me via Western Union… but that presented complications as well. Read on to find out more. Lessons learned: Carry multiple credit and debit cards and store them in various places. Ensure you have a reasonable amount of cash in your back-up bank account in case you are unable to transfer cash between accounts easily.
Electronic devices: I had both my phone and my tablet with me because I knew I would be out for the entirety of the day. I use my tablet for reading, but it’s also a nice back up if my phone dies and I am unable to charge it. I also travel with my laptop, but (luckily) kept it at home that day because I was taking the day off from working. This is what completely saved me. First things first, I was able to turn off my stolen devices from my laptop so no sensitive information could be accessed. Then I was able to shut my cards down so those couldn’t be used. Finally it was key to have my laptop so I could communicate with people through messaging apps and email. If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have been able to do so many things we take for granted like: contact my sister to have cash wired and buy me a plane ticket to the mainland to go to the Embassy for an emergency passport, look up flights to go to the mainland, and order new cards and devices. Sidebar: if you have 2FA set up for your bank accounts, consider using the text message version rather than the app version. The reason I was unable to get into my backup bank account was because I had 2FA set up through their app - which was only on my phone. And to make any changes required tapping the app and using face ID on my phone - not an option with my laptop. Lessons learned: never go out and about with all your devices, always leave one at home stored in a safe place. If you are in transit with all your devices, be sure to store them in separate places that will be on your person as you travel. Also consider rather than trading in your next phone, keep it as a back-up for traveling.
Passport: Ok, let’s address the elephant in the room. Why did I even have my passport with me while I was just out and about for the day? I was planning on going snorkeling at a national park, and they required a passport as a deposit. It’s pretty dumb, and in retrospect, I could’ve probably shopped around for an outfit that didn’t require my passport. Even more ironically, I didn’t even end up going out snorkeling that day because I ran into some friends and I ended up hanging out with them instead. Just don’t take your passport out with you, period. If you absolutely need ID, make a photocopy or take a photo of your passport and carry another form of ID, like your driver’s license, with you. This was the biggest hurdle to clear. First of all, I was not able to pick up the cash that my sister wired me without my passport. Even my driver’s license didn’t work for this. So I had to find someone who could pick up the cash for me - and trust that they just wouldn’t run off with it. I was lucky that the owner of the place I was staying was very helpful and she was willing to have the cash sent in her name and brought me with her to pick it up. Secondly, since I was on an island without a US embassy, I had to fly to the mainland to get an emergency passport issued. And even though I was flying within the country, the airport officials were still requiring that I show a passport to board, despite having my driver’s license with me as my only form of ID. Lucky for me, I had made a police report about the incident which included the fact that I had my passport stolen. So after some back and forth (and mind you, my Spanish is not very good), they were finally able to accept my police report and driver’s license as an alternative to my passport. And then there was the whole debacle of going to the embassy to get my emergency passport - which I’ll address in my next post. Lessons learned: Always minimize traveling with your passport. When you must absolutely travel with it, keep it somewhere secure, ideally on your body and not in a bag that can be stolen or lost. Make a photocopy of it and carry back up ID, such as a drivers license. When you are settled in your destination, leave your passport in a secure location, like a safe, and only carry the passport photocopy and back up ID with you. And be sure to get a written police report!
Hopefully this doesn’t happen to you, but it’s always good to be prepared for what could happen. Learning the hard way is not ideal, and can put a serious damper on your travels. Stay safe and aware, but don’t forget that life happens to us all. The more prepared you are, the more fun you can have!
