Went to Vietnam last week. A mini saga occurred when I was back at the airport at Kuala Lumpur, when I realised that my passport was not in my possession…
I wouldn’t panic under most circumstances, but a series of (chaotic) events preluded the incident… which led to an immediate thought that I had dropped the passport somewhere (instead of simply keeping it at another corner of my bags).
Still, my immediate response was to search my bags, twice, but couldn’t find it… thus the beginning of a two hour long search at the airport, in which I visited almost every administrative offices and done a few things which would get me into trouble at an American airport. Anyhow, couldn’t find it after the hunt and had to file a police report – which AFAIK was a first (losing passport) among my family and peers.
Took a cab back home after that. The adrenalin rush had settled down after reaching home, and I decided to search through my bags again… funny enough, my passport appeared somewhere in the corner, clearly visible, and it took me less than 60 seconds to discover it. How I managed to miss that at the airport remains a big mystery lol.
Stupid things happened to the brightest people sometimes, and I’m not the steadiest of all to begin with. Two hours wasted, a rather bizarre yet special experience, and a laughing material among my tour mates for a long long time.