Stolen Passport & Visa: One Big Obstacle Before Study Abroad
Before I studied abroad, I had traveled a lot. I visited Europe often with my parents to visit family and explore different countries. But when our passports were stolen, we were thrown into panic mode because I was days away from moving to Italy for a semester to study abroad. Having copies of all my documents for my passport and visa was how I was able to replace my passport and visa quickly.
Tale of a stolen passport
Last summer, I traveled around Europe with my mom and dad for a month before heading to Italy to study abroad. We visited Denmark for a family reunion, Portugal to house-sit for a friend, and finally, England to visit friends and family. After some much-needed time up in the countryside with my grandparents, we headed to London to see the Paul McCartney Photography exhibit in The National Gallery, which I had been dying to go to for months.
We piled our luggage into the car and parked it around the corner. A few hours later, we drove to a local Pizza Express to grab a quick bite before heading home. As soon as I sat down, I had a horrible feeling in my stomach. I couldn't eat and had to walk around the block a few times to calm myself down. Thinking back, I wish I had walked towards the car.
After dinner, we headed towards the car, and as it came into view, my stomach dropped. The brand-new car had its back windshield completely smashed. The trunk had a cover that concealed our luggage, so we assumed someone had been watching us as we opened the trunk to get an umbrella. I saw that my pink backpack, carry-on suitcase, and giant checked bag were all accounted for. What a relief! But then I heard my dad say, "My bag is gone." The bag with his computer, microphone, tablet, watch–and–all three of our passports in it. The initial relief turned into a sinking feeling of despair.
Getting a replacement passport
Passports are more easily replaceable, but visas, such as the Italian one in my passport that I had spent months applying for, were not. My stomach dropped for the third time that night as I paced the street, hoping someone had just taken the technology and chucked the bag somewhere. We filed a police report, and as it was a Friday, we had to wait until Monday for the embassy to open.
On Monday, all three of us took the train into London to begin the process of getting new passports and an Italian visa for me. I waved goodbye to my dad, a UK citizen, who had to go to a different embassy further away. Little did we know, he would be stuck in England for a month, and I wouldn't see him for another three and a half months. We had a flight back to Portugal that night, which was our saving grace.
PRO TIP
If your passport is lost or stolen and you have a flight scheduled within the next seven days, they're more likely to help you immediately.
The U.S. embassy let my mom and me in right away, and we were given new passports within two hours of arriving. We quickly rushed back, packed our things, and headed to the airport to catch our flight, one man down.
Replacing the visa
We woke up in Lisbon the next day, grateful for our luck with new passports in hand. Now, I had to tackle the visa replacement. Six days until I needed to be in Florence, and it just so happened that this exact week, everyone in Italy was on vacation. I wasn’t so lucky this time!
Before I left the U.S., I made copies of everything: my visa, my application, and photos of my old passport.
PRO TIP
When traveling, make sure you have copies of all your documents. Scan them, take pictures, save electronic copies on your mom's computer at home, and do whatever you can to have records of your passport, ID, visa, etc., in case of an emergency.
We went to the Italian embassy in Lisbon, where they told me a replacement was simple and quick; I just needed the documents and a passport picture. Easy. We gathered everything, returned, and were told they had made a mistake. As an American citizen, I could only get a replacement in America. And even then, it could take a few weeks for the embassy in Los Angeles to review my case.
Four days until I needed to be in Florence. I called my Italian university every hour, who was off on vacation (of course) until tomorrow. I called my school in America, which was not yet awake because of the time difference. I even called the emergency line of my abroad program, who obviously told me not to call them again. I left close to 40 voicemails! Everyone who picked up told me that just a copy of my visa was insufficient and that I would need to return to America to start the replacement process. I was devastated!
I prepared myself for the absolute worst. "I'll have fun at school if I don't go abroad. It probably won't be that fun anyway." I was grasping at straws, trying to make myself feel better. We looked at flights back to America, but they were thousands of dollars. The Rome embassy did not issue student visas on such short notice, and we had now missed our original flight to Florence. My parents and I had planned to fly a few days before my program started to get the lay of the land. We had to decide whether to rebook our flight to Florence or book a ticket back to the states.
A sigh of relief
Three days left I get a call, finally, from the university in Florence. It lasted about two minutes. "Do you have a copy of your visa?" "Yes," I said. "Then it is not a problem, and you can still come to Italy." After six full days of tears, anger, and sadness, it turns out the answer was that simple all along. We would have gotten that answer three days earlier if Italy's summer holiday hadn't fallen on that exact week. I was ecstatic!
Two days later, after a tearful goodbye with my mom, I landed in Pisa at 3 am, after a 3-hour flight delay. As I exited the airport, a giant thunderstorm opened from the skies. There were no taxis, so I was stuck in the rain. I wondered when my luck would change. After a sleepless night in a hostel in Pisa, I finally arrived at the Santa Maria Novella Station in Florence and instantly fell in love. I made it just in time for check-in and looked at the smiling faces of other students who arrived after a stress-free flight.
A lady asked my name. I said, "Lola," and she, smiling and laughing pitifully, said, "Yeah. We know who you are."
What I learned from losing my passport and visa before studying abroad
No matter what country you are from, knowing how to secure a lost passport or visa quickly when traveling abroad is important. Also, knowing where your country’s embassy is located in the places you are traveling will help you report your loss quickly.
The most important thing I learned was to bring copies of all your documents and keep them separate from your passport and visa.
If I had those documents inside my passport, I would have lost everything and missed the time of my life studying abroad in Italy.