The demise of the wallet

If you had to lose one of these 3 items on an overseas trip, which would it be?

  • Passport

    Votes: 6 8.7%
  • Phone

    Votes: 38 55.1%
  • Wallet/purse

    Votes: 25 36.2%

  • Total voters
    69
Status
Not open for further replies.

browski

Established Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2004
Posts
1,498
On a recent trip OS, I lost my wallet.
Was genuinely surprised that the wallet was not found and returned to me. In the modern world there does not seem much financial gain in keeping a found wallet.

Anyway, I flew to Bangkok the next day and the new credit cards were waiting for me at my Bangkok Hotel.

I did not bother replacing the wallet, and after 2 weeks I have not missed it. So I am now done with wallets. For those of you who shed the wallet burden a long time ago, are there any tips that you could share on navigating life wallet-free?
 
Last edited:
Good poll.

I think I'll remain a wallet guy - one advantage it has is that a quick tap to the pocket confirms that I'm still good to go and there is a fixed receptacle to return the cards/cash into after a transaction. I assume the alternative is loose cash cards in pockets? Much easier to lose and not realise it.
 
I think phone, as it is the easiest thing to replace, as one only have to walk into any store buy a new one, log in to google, all contacts and apps restored in a few minutes. And if you are somewhere remote, well it probably wasnt working anyway.

Replacing the cards in your wallet is a little more difficult, and passport most difficult of all, and really stops you moving on until its replaced.
 
Definitely (given the choices) passport is the worst to lose. The only thing I travel with that I would hate to lose more is my teddy bear, but that was not in the poll.
 
Depends on the trip. If you've just arrived in the UK for 4 weeks and you lose your passport, replacing it is a minor inconvenience. If you're in Marrakech and meant to be going home the next day, not so much.
 
My phone is for calls, texts and and online stuff/googling ect. I dont use it for much else.

Im not one of those people that have their lives in a phone - I dont even have my music on my phone.
 
Can't do without a passport and can't do without a wallet.

Can easily do the without the phone but I do have 2 phones while travelling.
 
I've travelled with two people who lost their passport and it was a shear nightmare for not only the colleague but all of us. Not only does it throw business plans up in the air (when on business), but it seems to put more stress on them than a phone or wallet/CC. One colleague found it missing the last of a five day stay at the start of three week business trip. He missed two legs as the French Embassy in Sin got him a temporary one, but when he caught up with us at Jakarta, immigration would not accept his "new" passport.
 
For me the passport is the most important, I know its whereabouts at all time when travelling either with me or locked in a hotel safe. When travelling I always put at least 1 CC in my passport wallet and leave the others in the standard wallet, if I lost my wallet I know there will be a back up. Lost phone, highly inconvenient but could get by without one. Lost wallet would be the least of my concerns when travelling, but would get another when I returned home.

After casting my vote I would be interested to know the reason for the single vote for lost passport. Maybe in error.
 
With Apple Pay and tapping almost 100% accepted - I have my 3 credit cards loaded to my phone wallet - I recently downsized my wallet to just carry some ID, tiny bit of cash and an ATM card! Don’t really need it (domestically) anymore.

Europe is soooo far behind though of course, I had to practice writing my signature to sign CC receipts in Paris a couple of weeks ago!
 
The phone as I don't carry one.:D

Ohhh. That is my ultimate dream, to unshackle myself from the need to carry a phone.
However I suspect that public phones are a thing of the past, and the convenience factor alone keeps me in the “need it” category

Losing it overseas would be less worrisome than losing passport or wallet.
My travel wallet holds my passport as well as cash and cards .
 
Phones and iPads are generally useless to anyone else, and so have a habit of coming back. Wallet. I have two...one for at home and one away. Nothing in the away wallet I can't afford to lose. Passport....that would be a bit of a disaster.
 
Passport....that would be a bit of a disaster.

Say you had just arrived in LAX and couldn't find your passport, couldn't you just stay on the plane and take the next flight back? :)
 
Say you had just arrived in LAX and couldn't find your passport, couldn't you just stay on the plane and take the next flight back? :)

Probably not, but not something I want to test. The bigger issue than the passport, for which there is an established protocol for getting replacement, would be replacement of the US visa. It is a PITA to deal with normally, so much so that I decided years ago that I would never be renewing mine. I just wish the Australian government would require US crews to jump through exactly the same hoops.
 
On a recent trip OS, I lost my wallet.
Was genuinely surprised that the wallet was not found and returned to me. In the modern world there does not seem much financial gain in keeping a found wallet.

Anyway, I flew to Bangkok the next day and the new credit cards were waiting for me at my Bangkok Hotel.

I did not bother replacing the wallet, and after 2 weeks I have not missed it. So I am now done with wallets. For those of you who shed the wallet burden a long time ago, are there any tips that you could share on navigating life wallet-free?

Another vote for wallet

Surprised about your surprise around no one returning it. Generally some effort required from the returnee so I would imagine most strangers at least wouldn't bother.

I sort of understand your point around not needing a (conventional) wallet. I now have a small card wallet which I carry in my front pocket and as I hardly use cash domestically or overseas hardly ever use my old wallet. All it contains is a bit of cash and a few non important cards, scraps of paper etc so could easily get by without it.

Where do you now keep your cards as a matter of interest
 
Where do you now keep your cards as a matter of interest

Most of my cards are on my phone and usable through Google Pay, if the merchant supports it. Varies on country, but in the UK at least almost all do and I hardly ever have to pull out a physical card there.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Some Australian states are starting to use licences, etc, that are stored on your phone. I already use Apple watch as much as I can. I look forward to not having to carry any cards within a wallet. The tradeoff is, of course, that our robot overlords will know all about us...but they do anyway.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top