Mary

Someone mentioned in a thread today that he was able to retrieve some property from a cab because he kept the receipt and knew which cab it was.

I was wondering what property you have lost due to your own carelessness while traveling. Did you get it back, and if so, how?

I've been lucky. I was riding a subway, and I had two pounds of gourmet coffee in a bag. I got off of the train without the coffee, and no amount of calling the transit authority turned up my $20 of coffee.

AC

Mary:
I am sorry to hear about your coffee. Unforunately some honest soul has to turn your belongings in to the Transit Authority in order for them to return it to you. Someone (a not so honest soul) probably took your shopping bag as soon as you left the train.
I made the mistake of wearing a heirloom ring on a trip. No need to guess I returned home without it and to this day I have no clue as to where I might have left it. Very sad!
Have a Happy Holiday!

gb

Here's a fun story. My 11 year old daughter bought a simple, sort of unattractive, "bucket hat" in Venice. She loved the hat, and wore it everyday for our three week trip. Near the end of the trip, we went to Disneyland in Paris. On the last ride of the day, she left the hat on the ride. We tried to go back and get the hat, but the staff would not let us back into the ride as everything was closing. They suggested we report it to the lost and found. We did, and the staff person send they would mail it to us if they found. Our daughter was optimistic since she knew exactly where she left it. We thought," Sure, no one is going to mail a cheap $5.00 hat. They will probably just toss it in the trash". We didn't say our thoughts to her. Well, sure enough, about three weeks later, she received her hat!! One strange thing-it was postmarked from Denmark! If that hat could talk, it might have quite a story.

Helma

I think I was REALLY lucky in one of my visits to the Six Flags park in CA. When I went to the restroom I dropped my little wallet without noticing it. Couple of hours later, when I realized what happened I went to the lost and found without any hope, since I had a security pass and $150 in the wallet. To my surprise, everything, even the money was promptly returned. I wish I knew who was this good person...

Ess

I was pickpocketed in Dublin, not totally my fault, but I was very careless, wandering around with head in the clouds, bag slung over my shoulder and I knew it didn't close properly. My wallet was lifted in an instant, with passport, cash, credit cards, drivers license...everything gone. Fortunately, God looks after fools and I had good friends there who took care of me. I didn't really need money, as they fed me and housed me and showed me a great old time. I called the credit card companies and reported the theft to the gards. The hardest part was convincing the American Embassy that I was who I said I was when it was time to go home and I needed a passport to get back. But even that wasn't too hard. Nobody who was born in Mississippi could possibly make up a background like that and talk about it in such detail.

Another time, several years ago, I lost my wallet getting out of a taxi. It was in Harlem in NYC outside Sylvia's soul food restaurant where I was going to have dinner with a friend. We had just been seated at our table when a man walked in, walked over to our table and handed me my wallet, asking me if it was mine. Apparently, he had picked it up outside the restaurant, figured I was inside, and right he was. I don't remember whether he looked at my driver's license or just figured it was mine, maybe he even saw me drop it. I was too speechless with surprise to say much except to thank him. Here's a message for people who are afraid to go to Harlem - take note, the people there are great. There is some fine eating and sightseeing to be done there, too. Also, there's a lot of history and culture in Harlem that they are justifiably proud of. I think a trip to NYC should include a visit to Harlem.

Karen

We went to England and Scotland before heading to Dover to board a cruiseliner. After landing at Gatwick we stopped at a hotel and I didn't discover till much later that I had left my camera in the hotel room.
When we arrived in Scotland we called the hotel and they had found the camera and mailed it over to Dover and it was on the ship when we arrived. I sent a very flowery note of thanks, along with an unsolicited reward...we greatly appreciated the honesty and the trouble they went to return the camera.

Cindy

Do kids count? Three times, I have misplaced a child at the Washington, D.C. National Zoo. I have three kids, and if I turn my head to deal with one, another one seems to wander off. The place has no walls or gates to prevent a kid from getting off the ground and right out into traffic, so you have to be careful, but it just keeps happening. The worst was my 5 year old, who got separated from our group in the elephant house. We actually split the adults in our party up to fan out and look for her. We found her in about 5 minutes because she did what I told her to do if she ever gets lost -- find a woman, preferably with kids, and ask for help. The mom she approach was very nice and launched a search for me. I haven't been back to the zoo since.

Gary

Through sheer stupidity, I lost the spare battery to my laptop. One battery cannot survive the Ontario-to-DFW leg of my trips, and while changing to a spare, I deposited the spent one into the storage area of the seatback. I didn't even realize I had left it on the plane until I went to recharged it before my return flight. Nothing in lost-and-found. As a replacement costs $250, I am now spare-less.

Cindy: you are not alone in the child-losing department. As a young child, my younger son proved to be unusally adept at quick getaways. The first time was on the infield at Santa Anita Park, where, while I was carefully selecting another lame horse, he decamped without warning to the playground. The second time was at O'Hare, where he wandered onto an emptying aircraft, only to be apprehended by a flight attendant. Bad Dad days, both.

Sal

I was at Disney Quest with my family and some friends when I realized that my waistpack had fallen off somewhere. It held my cash, credit card, camera and cel phone. Some honest soul found it and turned it in.

The most important thing that has been left behind was my husband's carry bag. He was not used to having one, and on our last night in Amsterdam, we got out of the cab at our hotel and our 7-year-old alerted him to the fact it was missing. He had left it hanging on the chair in the restaraunt we had just left. It had our passports and credit cards. He jumped back into the cab and went back. The waiter had found it, and when my husband got there the manager was trying to find out where we were staying . Needless to say, that waiter got an extra tip.

Sam

This is not travel related....this is nonesense.

Sam

Typo!