h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Mrs G was heading off today to the States to see her brother. She's gone two of her brothers to see the third brother who lives over there.

She kept on repeating the mantra 'Money, Tickets, Passport', as these are the three things you need to bring - anything else can be bought later if you forget it. At 7:00, I drove her up to to Brother D's house and she checked as we went that she had the three essential items.

At 7:05, we collected Brother D, and drove to Brother B's house, arriving there at about 7:15. Here I left them all, and Brother B's wife who has a large car agreed to drive them all to the airport. They were all in plenty of time. I headed home and made myself a cup of coffee.

About 20 minutes later I got a panic call - they had arrived in the airport, the sister in law had left them, and now Mrs G was missing here wallet, with her money, her credit cards, debit cards and driving licence. The trip to America would be possible without it, but difficult.

Had she left the wallet in my car?

I went out and checked, but no. There was no sign of it. Perhaps she had left in the sister-in-law's car? But she wasn't yet home and wasn't answering the phone.

I drove to the sister-in-law's house in case the missing wallet had been dropped on the ground outside it. As I got there, the sister-in-law returned and we found the wallet sitting on the seat of the car - it must have fallen out of Mrs G's bag.

I drove quickly to the airport and she had her wallet by 8:45. The plane wasn't leaving until 9:50, so she still had time enough, but cutting it a bit fine to get through security and all the other things. But it all worked out. I got a call from her about 9 hours later. She had got to Toronto and was now waiting for her flight to Seattle.

Crisis averted.

That's happened to me once too often, so to that mantra i always now add: fasten the handbag.

And for some reason when I read your post I thought you'd written that you drove Mrs G to Big Brother's house. I was beginning to worry!

It's a quiet morning here in the Big Brother House - all the inmates are sleeping off last night's orgy...

I only travel to England on my own, as things are at the moment. But I have a set routine, which I employ whenever I travel.

My passport is always in the back left pocket of my jeans, with my ticket/boarding card wrapped round it. Money/cards are also actually on me, in a safe pocket, with any larger purses with the various currencies in separate parts of my luggage as far as possible. While at the airport and when in large cities, I frequently try and check unobtrusively that everything is still there. Things in your back pockets can be felt without having to put your hand on your backside. And with my fat derriere, there's not much chance of stuff falling out of that.

I have, however, yet to go to Rome, where absolutely everyone gets robbed. My son - a seasoned traveller - was there once, and, inevitably, had his purse taken, but he had reduced the contents as far as possible, so it only contained one card (his bank card, which he quickly blocked), his ID card (he still has a German and a British passport, though) and his SIM card for his German phone. He was using his French SIM card at the time, as he lived in France then, so he just blocked the German mobile number.

So - if you do lose your purse, it's important to know what was in it!

It is a relief to hear the Mrs G found hers, and managed to retain her dignity. I think the most embarrassing thing to see is a woman scrabbling red-faced in her handbag for something lost. It's worse when you're the one with the red face, flapping hair and palpitations, exposing the (possibly intimate) contents of your handbag to an amused airport audience!

Oh great, G. Now I have an earworm of the BB voice in my head.
Drat, curses!

""So - if you do lose your purse, it's important to know what was in it!""

A good idea is to periodically make a photocopy of all the cards and whatnot in your wallet, front and back. Keep this in a secure place where in an emergency you, or someone trusted, can get to it. This way you have all the credit card company and bank phone numbers in one place along with the account numbers. Canceling and blocking cards is a lot easier when you have their phone numbers.

I haven't done this for a few years, so thanks for the reminder.

That *is* a good idea. The other one is periodically write down all the numbers in your mobile (or use one of those fancy back-up bits of software you can get for our computer to do it for you). I used to know loads of friends and families number's off by heart, but since I've had the mobile they've drifted out of my mind. Not much fun on the occasion I had my phone stolen, trying to contact everyone and get the numbers again.

I have a similar mantra for leaving the house - 'phone, wallet, keys, inhaler' If it's a work day, then 'security pass' gets added to the list, as the ex-gurkhas who work security are very strict and 25 miles is a long way to drive to pick it up

'Money, Tickets, Passport' is a good mantra. I'm going abroad next month and I've already given my passport to the well-travelleded (me not so) other half. He's also organising the plane tickets & parking space, all I have to do is turn up with my suitcase. It's quite wonderful to be around someone so organised and in control. Must get some euros to add to the growing pile of my stuff in his house.



PS I hope Mrs G has a good time on her visit

I'm sure she will. They're going to go boating on the Puget Sound, up to the San Juan Islands and Friday Harbor.

This is her brother's boat:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eoinmcauley/2704263682/in/set-72157606381260635/

I'm very much a last-minute packer, but then I know that as long as I have money, tickets, and passport with me, I'll survive without whatever it may be that I forgot to take.

Oh yes - I NEVER do things in advance. I only forget them when the time comes.

I always pack finally the night before
if there are things I know I need to take, and don't use often, I put them in my case/bag as soon as I think of it

otherwise - actually I'm pretty practiced at packing for trips (being an Army brat, boarding school brat and a Soldierette) so it's not too bad.

But - packing is a recurring nightmare of mine. *shiver*