18th October 2014, Bordeaux (South-west France)
It was an amazing day: I had it all planned out. I was heading to the Sunday flea market in Bordeaux to buy some good clothes. I had this need for dressing well in Paris, where I was headed next. Needed to do some justice to the place, right?
I had now been backpacking for almost 21 days. With this small black bag and a camera bag, I traveled from Innsbruck to Milan, Nice, Marseille, Barcelona, Lisbon, Madrid, San Sebastian, and finally I reached Bordeaux. Bordeaux is a place extremely famous for its wine. And vineyards of course. So that day, I was going to visit one of the most famous vineyards: St Emilion.
So after buying my clothes, I went to the Bordeaux station, Bordeaux St.jean, to board the train with my friend to go to St Emilion. But not before I tried out my clothes right? Perhaps get some nice pics with them too at the vineyard.
I boarded the train, happily chatting away with my friend, Oshin, and perhaps 5 minutes after the train had left the station and I had just begun to settle in, I felt something was missing.
As my heart skipped a beat, I frantically searched for this pouch I had been carrying, only to realize it was no longer there with me. My passport along with my Schengen visa, Eurail pass, debit card, cash, and house keys- basically everything that mattered- was lost.
I was lost for a moment, and as my friend tried to calm me down, I realized the ticket-checking person was heading toward me. I did not have a ticket as I always used my Eurail pass. I tried to move to the other end of the compartment, crying like a baby. As I tried to regain composure, the TT walked toward us and asked for tickets. I explained my situation, and thankfully, he let me go.
Immediately, my friend started calling some people- firstly, my father, to block my debit card, and later, the restaurant at the Bordeaux station, to see if I had left my purse there. An hour later, we managed to reach back to the Bordeaux station, but I pretty much knew I was not going to find anything- and I was right.
My family, back in India, learnt about the whole situation and needless to say, they were extremely anxious and worried, and lent me their helping hand in every way possible in the days to come.
We later headed to the police station to file a police report. As I tried to calm myself down a little, we reached the station and waited for our turn. I was just really lucky Oshin was there with me when this happened. When our turn came, we went up to the police and told them what happened. They gave a puzzled look and said they did not understand English. LOL.
I looked at the policeman, whacking my brain to recall the French I had learned for 3 years in high school. "J'ai perdu mon passeport et je n’ai pas d’ identité” ha!! I managed to say that much, and they understood. I felt awesome because for the first time in my life, I had used my French for some useful reason, and not only to ask “ou est? “Ha-ha.
After waiting for a while, we were taken to a room where they prepared a statement as to what happened, and what all I had lost. After getting the French police document, we left the station.
It is funny how things turn out: My senior at college, Arun, was one of those few people whom I'd constantly been in touch with for advice related to my exchange program. He had advised me to carry a body pouch with me, to keep all my documents safe. Incidentally, he was also the person who had lost his passport and all other documents like the Eurail pass. So I knew who to contact now, amidst all this mess. I had so many questions firing up in my head, and at this point, I was in a state of guilt and frustration: How could I have been so careless?
They say we should listen to our elders... To our parents. My mum had seen a few of my pics where this pouch was outside my tee. She always told me, Bhavya, keep your pouch inside your sweater, and I would always say yes mummy, I am doing that. She always asked me to check my surroundings before leaving a place, lest I leave anything behind.
We left the police station and reached our place of stay in Bordeaux. By this point in time, a sense of hopelessness and calm had come over me, as I had accepted the whole situation.
I was grateful that I was not alone when this happened, because for the last 10 days or so I had been traveling solo. It was only in Bordeaux I was staying with some college friends studying there. Apart from Oshin, I didn’t know the other people too well… But the warmth I felt when I was so down, when I stayed with them, did ease up the situation a lot.
As I recounted my situation to them, they empathized and made food for me. I ate well. I spoke to my family. And then I realized it was time to decide the next plan of action.
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19th October 2014, Bordeaux
The next morning, I spent some time figuring out what needed to be done.
I had my classes starting on 23rd October. I had to somehow reach back to Innsbruck before that. Attendance issues meant failure and would complicate things a lot back in India. I started to think of the best way to reach back.
Train tickets without a Eurail pass were costing me around 350 euros. And they all went via Paris and Zurich. My friends asked me to check if I could fly since that might be cheaper. They told me to check with the airport authorities if I could fly without my passport, given my genuine reason.
I went to the Bordeaux airport and spoke to the person in charge. A French lady, who spoke broken English, asked me what my situation was. I told her and showed her my documents. She contacted the airlines and then told me after an hour or so, they would let me fly. I was happy. I would be saving around 100 euros. I booked my flight tickets that day, and was all set to fly out the next day.
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20th October 2014, Bordeaux
I headed to the airport that morning. So my flight was to Zurich, with a 90-minute stopover at Geneva. As I went to the check-in counter, the lady saw my documents and gave me the boarding pass till Geneva. I looked at her and asked her to also give me my pass till Zurich, since within 90 minutes at Geneva I would not have the time to explain my whole situation again AND check-in. But the lady at the desk said she could not give me that pass.
I got furious and said the only reason I had booked the ticket was that they had given me complete assurance that I would be able to fly without such glitches. I got in touch with the lady who had permitted me, but she stormed into a room behind her and did not come out. I was furious by now. Heights of arrogance, I murmured. As I pulled myself together, I walked to find any sort of customer assistance.
I finally reached a customer information desk, and happy that they could speak English properly and explained my whole situation.By then, I was almost in tears. The lady sensed my situation and took me to another lady who asked me what happened. She then called up the airport in Geneva to see if they could issue a pass for me. But they refused. She then reassured me by saying I would not encounter any problems while checking in again at Geneva. She asked me to carry on with my boarding and said if there were any updates, she would announce my name and call me.
I shrugged, and with 20 minutes left for boarding, walked toward the boarding lounge. I was angry at the way I was being treated.
In no time, I suddenly realized my name was being called: “BHAVYA SHAH, you are requested to come to the check-in counter immediately.” I got up with a jolt, and enthusiastically went back to the check-in counter, hopeful. The lady who had earlier refused me the connecting boarding pass looked at me and said, “Ma'am, I'm sorry you won't be able to fly to Geneva.”
LOL.
Talk about being unlucky? Or feeling so mad and helpless?I looked at her and laughed. WHAT? She told me the Geneva authorities were not allowing me to land since I did not have a passport. Well!! That’s why I had asked permission right?
I screamed at the lady and started crying, telling her she had no damn idea the state I was in. Much to my annoyance, she said the words no one should say in such a situation. “Mam, I’m sorry, I understand how you feel” then I screamed back and said, “No, you don’t! You had permitted me to travel!”
She apologized again, asked me to get a refund from my travel agent, and said that she had to leave since the flight was going to leave.
Left with no one to complain to about the injustice, I exited the airport, thinking about what I should do. It was 20th October, 5 pm. I rushed to the Bordeaux train station before the train counters closed. I booked connecting trains till Zurich. Another 200 euros.
Now I had another sweet problem to worry about. How do I travel to Switzerland without any document of identity? I did not know how far a French police report would help me. Given how strict the border checks are in Switzerland, I was scared to to risk anything.
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21st October, Bordeaux
The next morning, I boarded the French TGV, a 3.5-hour journey from Bordeaux to Paris. My to-be brother-in-law, Navin, had connected me with 2 of his friends, one of whom would receive me at the station to take me to the Indian embassy in Paris so that I could get some documents that proved my legal presence before I took the journey to Zurich.
I said Goodbye to the Indian students from my college I had been staying with, one of whom, turned out to be a close friend as years passed by 😊
Soon I was on the train, and while I was nervous, I was super thrilled to see Paris.
The Eiffel, The Notre Dame, The Louvre, The Champs Elysees. The stuff of anyone’s dream. About an hour into the journey, the train suddenly stopped. I looked around to understand, and tried to exchange a few phrases in French ( the little broken French I could speak) to understand what they thought was happening. They shrugged and said they too did not know. Assuming it was a technical problem with the train, I went back to reading the book I had started.
Another 20 minutes passed. I became a little curious and went to the end of the compartment to find someone who could explain the situation. One person then told me that the TGV had run into someone, and the person had died on the spot. (Oh good lord!?)
After what seemed like 2.5 hours, the train resumed its journey. By now, my plans had gone astray. I would miss the connecting train to Zurich which I had booked, as my plan to visit the embassy too would be delayed.
Once I reached Paris, I met Navin’s friend- Sathish. A rush of gratitude passed through me- I cannot explain how wonderful it was to see someone familiar at that huge Paris station. I really cannot. He then took me to the counter at the station and said I could postpone my ticket to the next day at a minimal charge, so that I would have time to sort things out and maybe even see a bit of Paris ( yes, Paris!)
We then went to his home, freshened up, and soon after, headed for the embassy.
We had a painful experience at the embassy. Our expectation was some solace and advice from the Indian folks there on how I could go about the situation, but much to our dismay, they told us that the only thing they could do was to issue an “emergency” letter which would allow me to fly back to India or else they could issue another passport, which could take close to 10 days. Both options would not work for me, given the time constraint.
They also asked us to contact the Austrian embassy in France to figure out a way to travel back there since I had no legal documents. We didn't get any useful input from the Austrian embassy either.
Furious and disappointed, my friend and I left the embassy and decided to just enjoy the nice Parisian evening. It had started to rain and for that night, I let all my fears/ worries die down as I sunk into a night filled with absolute wonder- we visited Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, and finally headed to the Eiffel tower.
When we went back to my friend’s flat, they prepared hot rice and dal. It was a very comforting meal. The next morning, I had to finally decide what I needed to do.
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22nd October 2014, Paris
A friend in India connected me with another friend who had a contact at the Indian Embassy in Paris. I spoke to him, and he told me that I should forget about my exam and definitely not travel outside France without a new passport.
I shrugged off these thoughts and finally decided to board the train to Zurich and see what happened. I spoke directly to Navin and told him my crazy plan, and to my surprise, he said that it was a good idea and asked me to proceed. I told my family as well and they thought I was out of my mind. Switzerland? You are traveling to one of the strictest countries without a document? What if those big guards catch you?
I calmed them down and proceeded to buy the regular tickets.
I was nervous, just thinking of how it would turn out if one of those swiss policemen did ask for a passport on the train. All thoughts raced in my mind- should I wait it out in the bathroom? But then if they catch me there it will be all the worse? Haha. thoughts never stopped coming into my mind, and I finally boarded the train. Okay, let's see the worst that could happen.
All this while, I'd done some research online- what happens if you get caught without a passport in a Schengen country? Some blog posts mentioned they could take you to a police station and some others mentioned a fine of 500 or 1000 euros!
I was on the train, happy to finally leave Paris and head back home. Every time the door of my compartment opened, my heart skipped a beat. And finally, when the guard came to check my ticket, he did not ask for the passport. I was extremely relieved, and I finally got down to Zurich, after what seemed like an eternal journey.
When I got off the train, I got a call from my sister saying that she and Navin (My brother in-law to-be) had now decided to marry and it was going to be sometime in the summer of next year. Quite some timing? :)
I boarded a bus towards Innsbruck, the quaint little European city in the northeast of Austria where I was studying. Being almost near the border of Austria, I now felt super confident; I was on home turf and they could not possibly catch me there.
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25th October 2014, Innsbruck/Vienna
After settling back in a couple of days, attending classes and easing into familiarity, I headed to the Indian embassy in Vienna to apply for my passport. I was extremely grateful that one of my close friends who also studied at the same college accompanied me on the trip and gave me much-needed moral support.
They said it would take 2-3 weeks. I was pretty bummed, given I could not travel outside Austria and I still wanted to visit Switzerland, Germany, and Rome, which I had planned early on to visit.
In the next few days, I spent a lot of time exploring Innsbruck and bonding with the local students of my class. Innsbruck is an amazing city, and if you love winter sports, nothing like it! Around this time, A colleague with whom I had interned at PepsiCo reached out to me asking me for advice: She was a student in France (on an exchange program at Lyon) and she had lost her passport/wallet in Austria. Quite some coincidence! As I guided her through what she would need to do, we started bonding on our similar situations. And then planned that since we were the only ones who could not travel in this period when we did get our passports, we could make a trip to Switzerland and Germany, as she too wanted to travel there.
So we waited it out. I also tried to understand how I could get my visa again- The Indian embassy only promised a passport, not a visa. Rumors said I would need to travel back to India for my visa, and that was not an option.
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Nov 6th 2014, Munich
2 weeks after I had applied for a new passport, I received a call stating my passport was ready. I was thrilled. Since I didn't have the Eurail pass with me ( the new one I purchased needed your passport to activate it), I decided to take the bus and go via Munich in Germany. It had also been ages since I stepped out of Innsbruck and so I thought having some adventure would be good (Yes, after all the adventure, I needed some more!!) And so I decided to spend a day in Munich, do some sightseeing that day and travel to Vienna the next day.
I had an amazing time in Munich. I visited the concentration camp, the pretty gardens, and the BMW welt. Felt amazing to travel again. I stayed at a hostel that night and the next morning, boarded the bus to Vienna. Wien westbahnhoff.
At the border of Germany and Austria, The bus was stopped. Policemen entered the bus looking for the passports of all the passengers. I froze. Looking around, I saw that most people, Europeans, were showing their local ID cards. So I took out my college card and showed that. They scrutinized that, then looked up and saw my skin color, and told me to go outside the bus.
My hands had started to sweat. (They have never sweated like that my whole life unless I was in a very intense tennis or Basketball match). I stepped out of the bus and walked towards two fat German guards, suited in black, and standing next to a black car.
"Ma’am, do you know that you have violated the law of the Deutsche-Land?"
"Where is your passport?"
I scrambled, as I pulled out a file that had all my photocopies of my passport, visa, and the police station report filed in France, and explained to them my situation. The police weren’t too happy. He repeated himself, “But Ma’am, you have violated the law.”
Almost teary-eyed now, I started to sob, and the police become seemingly uncomfortable with me.
"Mam, you have violated the law, but it is not such a big violation" and he patted me on the shoulder.
I was amused.
"What do you mean? What will you do?"
“Well, I am going to ask you to write a statement. Then I will send 1 copy of that to the Innsbruck police station, and another to the Munich police station.”
" And then?"
" That's all."
Wow, really? I thought to myself, some life coming back to me.
“So can I travel to India now? Can I continue this journey?”
He then nodded at me.
" So, let's do this statement now. "He took out sheets of paper.
"I am going to write in German, Just answer my questions."
" When did you enter Germany?"
"Where did you enter Germany?"
As I answered these questions, in my head, I was extremely relieved and thanked my lucky stars that nothing worse happened.
The police handed over a copy of the interrogation statement and asked me to use it if I get caught again, and he told me that he would post a copy to both the Munich and Innsbruck police stations. Then, he wished me a great day and let me go. I smiled, thanked him profusely, and entered the bus again. The whole bus had been waiting for me for about 30 mins, and I felt my cheeks go red as people stared at me as I walked through. I quietly went and sat, and as the bus started, I stared at the pretty scene outside and dozed off into a nice slumber, waking up in Vienna.
8th November 2014, Vienna/Innsbruck
I collected the passport at Vienna and then boarded the train back to Innsbruck, finally using my newly issuedEurail pass (which I managed to get as I had insurance on the one just lost) .As I was calmly sitting in the train back, there were police checks again. When the police saw my passport, he thought I had been illegally staying in Austria, and asked me the same.
"Mam, Where is your visa? "
I explained my situation. He told me that without a visa, I will be counted as illegally staying in Austria!
"I have tried to understand how I can get a visa, as I cannot go back to India now, but haven't found out how- can you please suggest how to get it?"
He seemed lost in thought, and was almost going to shrug off my query but then asked me to go to the local airport in Innsbruck, as they would be able to help me. Then he let me go.
Whew, again. At this point, I too really wanted my visa back so I could explore some places I'd intended to (Namely Interlaken (Switzerland), Rome, and Berlin).
As I reached back Innsbruck, I visited the airport and asked if they could help with a visa. They said that they could not give me a visa, but since I had a scanned copy of my visa, they could issue one stating the signed copy would be valid.
"Can I travel outside Austria with this, to Germany, Switzerland etc"
"No, we can't comment on that, but you certainly can travel Austria" LOL, of course, I can- and by this point, I had traveled so much Austria that I was done with that.
" You need to speak to the local police in the countries you wish to travel to."
I literally called up the police in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany that day. (Yes, I did!) They didn't seem to allow it at first, but when I told them it would be just 4-5 days and not more, they grudgingly agreed. And after all of this craziness, that truly was my Eureka moment!
With this newly found freedom, I stepped out of Austria and made my way to Rome and traveled with a friend, soaking in the beauty the city has to offer. I later went to Interlaken and Berlin, with the same friend who had also lost her passport and had gotten it back. And it was an absolutely brilliant trip!
I later wrapped up my Exchange program at the University in Innsbruck and headed back to India on 24th Dec'14.
In retrospect, this whole episode was quite an adventure of sorts. It emotionally and physically drained me at times in between, but it also made me realize certain things which I am grateful for even today.
I received a lot of warmth from my family and close friends, and I will forever be grateful to them. I also got help from some completely unexpected quarters, and at some of these times, I was overwhelmed with a rush of emotion and gratitude, the type I really can't explain. In some strange way, this defined a part of me in the years to come and made me a person more open to helping others in times of their tough situations, versus what I might have been before this episode, all stemming from just knowing the kind of impact you can have by being kind and supporting when people need it the most.
In the days after I lost my stuff, I had friends who were very far away from France who offered to help, and some went out of the way in managing to find friends/contacts who would be able to support me. Yet at the same time, there were some people whom I thought were good friends, and who were in France itself, who didn't even ask me how I was doing, let alone offer to help. That's when I learned what fair-weather friends are and what 2-AM friends are, and the difference between the two.
Lastly, I made a couple of really amazing friends during this tough time, friends who are very close to me even today.
So if someone was to ask me today, what is my favorite mistake? I know what to tell them :)
