Vietnam is being so
good to me, clearly seems to be my place of luck and good treatment. Two hours
before I was supposed to take a flight leaving Danang to my “second home” Hanoi
(after half a day here to have to say that this is not an exaggerated
statement), standing at the airport I realized that my passport was missing.
Now I have a tendency of leaving things in places without having my mind on it,
and most of the time they thus just reappear, but this time it was different:
After the most thorough inspection of my bags it couldn’t be found. I called
both the Hostel where I received by passport some hours earlier in exchange for
returning my motorbike, as well as the Hotel that I went to afterwards to get
my bag. Both frantically, but fruitlessly looked for it – just as the taxi
driver and owners of the small beer place in which we cheered goodbye directly
before seeking the airport. It became increasingly clear that I must have
dropped on the way from one to the other. Tom and I took the motorbike back and
forth the small alleyways, but soon had to go back to the airport to take my
bag from my friend Chi who had to take the flight to arrive in time for her
work the next morning. One hour before the flight left I had to realize that
‘the horror of every traveler’ became true – I lost my passport. The stories of
my friends who had to stay in a place in Chile for several months because their
belongings were stolen came into my mind. At the same day I had joked about me
being on the streets without a fixed place to stay for the next 3 months. Now I
was being not only homeless, but also identity-less. In a rush of badassness
and freedom I thought of throwing away my German ID away as well – fortunately
I did not follow that impulse.
After saying goodbye
to Chi, and therewith my hope to fly to Hanoi the same day I considered my
options. I asked Tom if he thinks it was even possible to go to Hanoi (the only
place where I could contact the embassy) without the passport, he answered:
“Maybe by train, but there is no way to fly without a passport” “Are you sure?”
“Well, try it”. Well, I tried, and after half an hour of talking to the Vietjet
officials and security personal (like, 5 of them (also by appealing to their
motional site by switching to Vietnamese)) they stamped my print out documents
and waved me through the check to enter the boarding area. While this was
already very lucky I still did not have my passport – problematic, considering
that I am supposed to leave to South Korea nine days later. This morning I woke
up to two facebook messages of strangers – somebody had found my passport on
the street, posted on a facebook page and the community found me. Several phone
calls later, the passport is now with Tom who will send it to me. Some nerves
(but not a single additional penny) lost, but problem soon to be solved.
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