Q – We have friends who just had their rental car broken into in Switzerland. A bag was taken including their passports, wallet, cell phone etc. We have an upcoming trip planned to Greece and Italy and we will be renting a car for a portion of this trip. What do we do if we are robbed, as in first steps. Also wondering if you can provide any tips others might find useful in terms of a really awful “what if” robbery scenario.
A – Never, ever, leave your things in a car anywhere in the world. If you are robbed or if you lose your passport/money/ID the first thing to do is contact your travel consultant and keep them engaged in your efforts. Contact the nearest American Consulate or Embassy after first contacting the local police and filing a claim.
Take a picture of the picture page of your passport and store it on your phone. Also store the photo on your home computer so you can access it from anywhere. You should also store photos of your luggage on your phone.
Make certain that your travel agency provides or recommends a Flight Monitoring service. They can be extremely helpful in a situation like this. If you lose all of your money, ask your travel agent to wire you funds at your hotel.
