This thread:
https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/581794-Germany-card-sales?p=6310373#post6310373
And this chuck-away comment:
Came true to me. Hopefully it will prove a timely reminder, not just to me but to others, too.
Richard
As if to prove this, I ‘lost’ my wallet yesterday morning. I say ‘lost’ as I could not find it when I left our overnight B&B stop near Calais yesterday morning. Having a completely separate second wallet, carrying within it:
A. Some cash.
B. A duplicate driving licence.
C. A second and separate credit and cash card.
Meant that I could, simply:
1. Freeze the cards I had ‘lost’, using the app’s on my phone. I could tell that nobody had used any of the cards, simply by looking at the latest balances on the app’s.
2. Put in a claim then and there under my Travel insurance for the ‘lost’ wallet and the cash it contained, again from my phone.
3. Get on with coming home as planned, that morning.
The hotel owner was kind enough to call me whilst I waited in the queue for the Chunnel to say that my wallet had been found, she agreeing to hang on to it until I came back to France next month, when I’d pick it up again. I then withdrew the claim (2) under my Travel insurance.
Morals:
1. It is not until you lose something that you realise how dependent you might be on it.
2. Having a spare back-up wallet meant that I could get on with my life, without being left cashless. Had it of been at the start of my holiday, rather than at the end, I could have carried on without too much inconvenience.
3. It clear that the loss of my phone, with its app’s - and being my only means of communication with the outside world - would have been much more damaging. I do have a spare phone, as my office (work) phone is separate to my private phone. But it’s maybe something for people to remember, especially those that use their one phone for everything in their life, paying bills, as a navigation device, calls, emails, app’s….. lose it (and your wallet, if you even have one) and you are potentially royally feck’ed.
4. I have a completely separate set of cards for my travels. My main, UK bank credit and cash cards, I leave at home. That way, I do not lose my life when I do come back. Not least, anyone dishonest finding my wallet does not have automatic and easy access to my entire financial life.
5. I was more annoyed that I had lost my travel wallet (with all the memories it carried with it) than I was over the loss of the bank cards and the bit of cash in it. The cards I could freeze in seconds; the cash was maybe £30, so (whilst tedious for it to be gone) was not life threatening. Had it of been a hundred or more (as some people carry, as they don’t or won’t use cards) it would have been very different.
6. Having a friendly - and honest - French hotelier was a real bonus.
7. Besides having the back-up set of cards, cash and phone, I always take a spare vehicle and house key with me, keeping them separate. If I lose one, I would be unlucky to lose the other; in short, life could continue, which is all that really matters.
8. I had meant to put one of those tracker things into my travel wallet. Had I have done so, I might well have ‘found’ it quicker. The events of the past 36 hours have reminded me to do it.
https://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/581794-Germany-card-sales?p=6310373#post6310373
And this chuck-away comment:
Came true to me. Hopefully it will prove a timely reminder, not just to me but to others, too.
Richard
As if to prove this, I ‘lost’ my wallet yesterday morning. I say ‘lost’ as I could not find it when I left our overnight B&B stop near Calais yesterday morning. Having a completely separate second wallet, carrying within it:
A. Some cash.
B. A duplicate driving licence.
C. A second and separate credit and cash card.
Meant that I could, simply:
1. Freeze the cards I had ‘lost’, using the app’s on my phone. I could tell that nobody had used any of the cards, simply by looking at the latest balances on the app’s.
2. Put in a claim then and there under my Travel insurance for the ‘lost’ wallet and the cash it contained, again from my phone.
3. Get on with coming home as planned, that morning.
The hotel owner was kind enough to call me whilst I waited in the queue for the Chunnel to say that my wallet had been found, she agreeing to hang on to it until I came back to France next month, when I’d pick it up again. I then withdrew the claim (2) under my Travel insurance.
Morals:
1. It is not until you lose something that you realise how dependent you might be on it.
2. Having a spare back-up wallet meant that I could get on with my life, without being left cashless. Had it of been at the start of my holiday, rather than at the end, I could have carried on without too much inconvenience.
3. It clear that the loss of my phone, with its app’s - and being my only means of communication with the outside world - would have been much more damaging. I do have a spare phone, as my office (work) phone is separate to my private phone. But it’s maybe something for people to remember, especially those that use their one phone for everything in their life, paying bills, as a navigation device, calls, emails, app’s….. lose it (and your wallet, if you even have one) and you are potentially royally feck’ed.
4. I have a completely separate set of cards for my travels. My main, UK bank credit and cash cards, I leave at home. That way, I do not lose my life when I do come back. Not least, anyone dishonest finding my wallet does not have automatic and easy access to my entire financial life.
5. I was more annoyed that I had lost my travel wallet (with all the memories it carried with it) than I was over the loss of the bank cards and the bit of cash in it. The cards I could freeze in seconds; the cash was maybe £30, so (whilst tedious for it to be gone) was not life threatening. Had it of been a hundred or more (as some people carry, as they don’t or won’t use cards) it would have been very different.
6. Having a friendly - and honest - French hotelier was a real bonus.
7. Besides having the back-up set of cards, cash and phone, I always take a spare vehicle and house key with me, keeping them separate. If I lose one, I would be unlucky to lose the other; in short, life could continue, which is all that really matters.
8. I had meant to put one of those tracker things into my travel wallet. Had I have done so, I might well have ‘found’ it quicker. The events of the past 36 hours have reminded me to do it.
