Things you don't want to lose.....
Original post
I'm gonna start this topic. Because I'm an idiot.
Somehow, I've managed to lose my passport. Yep. My PASSPORT! And, it has my permanent residency visa in it, which I only got in May.
Now, this would be a silly thing to do at any time. However, it's truly moronic, given that in two weeks I'm supposed to be going back to Oz for the first time since moving here, to go to the NRL Grand Final and my Dad's wedding.
Flights are paid for. Grand final tickets for myself, my father and 3 of my brothers in my hand.
Guess how much to get a replacement passport in time? You won't believe it:
$700. Plus. How do I figure that?
$257 for the passport. $127 for priority processing. $102 because I'm not in Australia. Oh, and this is Australian dollars.
And - get this - I can only apply IN PERSON in Auckland or Wellington. So another couple of hundred dollars to get there and back, taking it to around $700.
And that's not even the bombshell....
If I travel on a new passport without reapplying for a permanent residency visa to be added to it, I forfeit it, and have to start from scratch, instead of being just 2 1/2 years away from being eligible for citizenship.
There is absolutely no way I can get a new passport AND PR visa in just two weeks!
So guess who isn't going to the NRL Grand Final, or his Dad's wedding?
This moron right here, that's who.....
So (mainly to make me feel better), what's the worst thing you've ever lost?
27 comments
Lost my wallet on a walking track, containing passport, 3 credit cards, 400 dollars, my phone, drivers license and more. Fortunately I found it the next day while re-walking that track, with everything inside. It actually slipped out of my pack when we stopped at a campsite table to have lunch.
Since that time my wallet is securely strapped to the inside of my pack with a carabiner. If I "forget" my backpack I will probably notice it more than my wallet.
And when I am on short trips I leave the passport and some cards home (but I was travelling for 6 months on a push bike, so I couldn't leave anything anywhere).
But yeah be careful, especially when you are not in your country, losing your passport would be a real pain, like in Australia it would have required me to drive 4,000 km to Sydney (no planes, as no passport, fun) to request a new one, wait a month or two and drive back to Sydney again to receive the new one. I'm so glad I found my wallet back the next day!
My missus can be forgetful haha.
Got up onto east peak on a dundas loop trip. Weather closed in and she discovered she forgot her rain jacket. Quick retreat.
We took the boys into the ruahine for Christmas two years ago. Had a special Christmas breakfast planned. Got to upper makaroro hut and she realised she had forgot to bring the second days food. Muesli bars for Christmas breakfast.
@bohwaz: "like in Australia it would have required me to drive 4,000 km to Sydney (no planes, as no passport, fun) to request a new one, wait a month or two and drive back to Sydney again to receive the new one"
This is for a French passport? At the very least for getting it back to you, can't they use the postal system or a courier?
True story:
A Scotsman, working as a manager for one of the Cruise companies in Milford Sound, sent his UK passport to the NZ internal affairs to get his work visa renewed. No problem there, passport came back in a courier pack addressed to "Mr_____, Milford Sound" The courier company drops the courier pack at the bus company in Queenstown, they put it on the next coach to Milford. Driver puts it in the luggage part under the coach. At the Chasm, someone asks to get out a jacket, driver opens the luggage compartment, a kea hops in and grabs the courier pack, flies out over the forest and drops it in the middle of a huge expanse of trackless rainforest.
The passport holder now needs to apply for a new passport and visa, has to provide an explanation to the police, the UK embassy and NZ internal affairs and get them all to believe his story about the kea.
Ah ah good story with the Kea, that's really bad luck.
@izogi, yes French passport. I think they now have "volunteer" consuls in Melbourne and Perth who have the right to receive your passport by courier and then give it to you personally. That's an improvement.
Brand new $350 pair of Salomon boots left at the Makarora camping ground after completing the Gillespie Pass circuit in them.
I left them outside in the rain after the post tramp shower/beer and beetled back to Christchurch.Remembered what I had done when we hit Geraldine.Sadly they weren't handed in so I hope whoever picked them up enjoyed them.Not.
Wow, that's a lot of important stuff lost!
As for the kea..... I reckon I'd be almost happy to lose my passport to get a cool story like that! :D
Passport still hasn't appeared. I also found out.... Once I DO have a new passport, I have to send it to NZ Immigration, with another $190 thank you very much.
Expensive and time-consuming stuff up on my part, that's for sure!
Other than knives, I tend not to lose stuff on the trail anymore, thankfully.
Hey @Kreig. Mostly out of curiosity from me not having had to bother, what do you see as the incentives for getting citizenship in NZ, over just having permanent residency? Is the main difference not having to keep track of your passport? Most of the benefits over residency that I see listed at a place like http://www.cab.org.nz/vat/gl/ci/Pages/Citizenship.aspx seem to be about things like travel in and out being simpler, and it being harder for the government to get rid of you if it wants to.
I have chosen NZ as my home. I want to be a part of this great nation fully. That's it. :)
Back when I was 16, I had a classmate, Marion, whom I had a crush on.
She asked me, if I would like to join her on a 2-week trip with a group of other kids to Lake Balaton, Hungary. It was organised by the catholic church, Marion went to.
Well, I was neither catholic, nor religious at all, but spending 2 weeks with Marion at a nice lake, was something, I was really looking forward to. She was a year younger, than me, and the maximum age of the kids was 15. I don`t know, what my parents told them, but finally they agreed, to let me join.
Five days, before the trip started, I called Marion, and asked her, what she was doing. She said, she was meeting friends, while I was packing my stuff.
Two days, before the trip started, she called me, in tears, and told me, she would not be able to go, as she couldn`t find her passport, and getting a new one, in just two days, was impossible.
I told my parents, I would also stay at home, but the trip was booked and paid, and they told me, I had to go.
Was my worst holidays, ever! Stuck with a bunch of nasty kids, and religious talk the whole day...
Search the forums
| Forum | The campfire |
|---|---|
| Started by | Kreig |
| On | 10 September 2016 |
| Replies | 26 |
| Permanent link | |
Participation in the forums signifies acceptance of forum rules.
In order to manage spam, new members are limited to 1 post every 10 minutes.
Formatting your posts
The forums support MarkDown syntax. Following is a quick reference.
| Type this... | To get this... | |
|---|---|---|
| Italic | *Italic text* | *Italic text* |
| Bold | **Bold text** | **Bold text** |
| Quoted text | > Quoted text | > Quoted text |
| Emojis | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: | :smile: :+1: :astonished: :heart: |
| Lists |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
- item 1 - item 2 - item 3 |
| Links | https://tramper.nz | https://tramper.nz |
| Images |  URL/of/image |
 |
| Mentions | @username | @username |