An Aussie traveller whose passport was stolen in Italy has warned other Australians not to make the same costly, ‘silly mistake’ she made.
Steph, who posts videos of herself renovating and flipping properties on social media, offered her cautionary travel tale to save others from the same fate.
As well as a lot of trouble and hassle, losing her passport ended up costing her $4,500.
‘I had my passport stolen. But that’s not the worst of things. I then made a really silly mistake,’ she said on TikTok.
She phoned the Australian embassy in Rome and was advised not to get on a plane without a passport, so she got a ferry from the island of Sardinia to the Italian capital instead.
Once she got there, she said ‘the embassy was so helpful and got me a passport within 48 hours’.
But having to get the ferry and wait two days for an emergency meant that Steph missed her flight home to Melbourne.
Searching online, the best deal she could find for a replacement ticket was a $1,700 booking which had two stop overs, including one that required her to pick up her luggage and check back in for another flight – which was her ‘silly mistake’.
Aussie traveller Steph (pictured), whose passport was stolen in Italy, has warned other Australians not to make her costly, ‘silly mistake’
While Melbourne was the journey’s end destination, the trip was two separate bookings.
‘I didn’t realise that one of the stops was actually considered the destination and that’s where you get your luggage and check in again.
‘When I read that you have to pick up your luggage, I thought “I don’t mind, it’s going to save me $600”,’ she recalled.
But picking up luggage and going from arrivals back to the departure area means you have officially entered the country, and many do not allow passengers to do that on an emergency passport.
When Steph got to the airport in Rome, she was not allowed to board the flight, so her $600 saving proved very costly.
‘That resulted in the $1,700 being wasted and I had to book another flight,’ she said.
‘So if you ever end up on an emergency passport and you’re booking a flight home, make sure it’s with the one airline and the stop is definitely a transit, and at no point do you have to get your luggage.’
She ended up paying a total of $4,500 to get back home, on top of the cost of replacing her stolen passport with a temporary, emergency one.
Steph did have travel insurance, and is waiting to find out if it will cover at least some of her unexpected expenses, even if some of it was down to her own mistake.
Commenters under her post thanked her for pointing out what happened so they can avoid it happening to them.
As well as lot of trouble and hassle, losing her passport ended up costing Steph (pictured) $4,500
‘That’s not an obvious mistake at all, I’m a very seasoned traveller and would have done the same thing without realising this could occur, thanks for pointing it out,’ wrote one.
Another poster asked how her passport got stolen in the first place.
‘I had my handbag on my shoulder and a guy ran from behind and ripped it off my shoulder,’ Steph replied.
‘Best to have those smaller wallet/passport bags that go around yr waste I think.’
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