So I am a very frequent Traveller. I can still be stupid. I accidentally left my passport on the Thai Airways flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok before my connection. I realized when I got off the plane before boarding the next I didn’t have it. Oh shit…..

So Thai Airways told me they’d found it but couldn’t get it to me. It would be in lost and found when i came back to Bangkok. I was concerned as I felt I was getting the Thai “Yes”, where they say yes but it isn’t really a yes. What choice did I have? they let me on the plane to Phuket.

So the next morning I call Bangkok lost and found. They don’t have it. At this point I look up what it would take to replace it. Holy….. I have to make an Appointment, with a bunch of documentation (I would need to be sent) and go to the embassy and they will mail one to me in 2 weeks. The first available appointment I could make was mid January. I’m on a work sabattical but basically I’d be stuck in Thailand till End of January – also what address could I even have it mailed to????

I am freaking out.

I need someone who speaks Thai. I think back to the guide from my first day. Suwet. I ask him to call Thai Airways. He does… and then over the next day tracks down my passport. It is in Guangzhou, china. It then goes to Shanghai. Then gets delivered back to Bangkok. He works with lost and found and gets me the locker number and reference number.

So on the 27th I get back to Bangkok from Phuket using my driving license and photocopy passport (I needed both)… leave domestic and go to lost and found. I fill out and sign a form, then have to go to a different place, they then walk me through to an international security check across international baggage claim to Thai Airways lost luggage. They sit me down, I fill out and sign another form. They then go to get my passport. It’s not there…. *panicked breathing*. Do you have it? Oh yes, we just need to get it from the back office further in airport. 

After 10 minutes a runner shows up with a sealed envelope. The lady pulls out the 12 or so staples and hands me my passport with the ticket and Star Alliance Gold ID card in it…..

If angels could have burst into “Reunited….” it would sum up my elation.

So 3 things to learn (apart from don’t lose your passport). I cannot understate how awesome Suwet, and Thai Airways were. Make sure you have that photocopy and a second form of official identification. Make sure you have a valid birth certificate at home in case you need it where someone can save it for you.