Passport Dramas

This one should be good for a few laughts for those at home ... though at my expense. Let me set the scene first though, as that adds to the (outside observer's) humour.

The flight from Singapore to Delhi was full, just as for the previous one. We were fortunately able to switch seats with someone so that Maria (who was 1 seat away and across the aisle) was able to sit next to me (we were in the middle row of seats). Eventually I struck up a conversation with the man next to me, clearly of Indian origin: "Is this your first visit to India?" he asked. It emerged that he was Alain (Alaen? - not sure of the spelling), a resident of Florey - thats one suburb away from us in Evatt. Cue Walt Disney's "Its a small world...". Anyway, Alain had lots of useful advice about dos and don'ts, such as what to eat and what not to eat etc. The basic message was "Enjoy yourself, be a little bit vigilant, but not paranoid, and all should be well". No worries I thought/said.

Getting through immigration and customs was not particularly troublesome, though took some time. The next challenge facing us was changing our AU$ to Indian rupees - being a currency controlled by the India government you can't buy it at an oz bank the way you would for most other currencies.

Straight out of the customs gate, there was a small area for car hire, money exchange counters etc., that just before where all the public, drivers, etc. were waiting. Great - they had a Thomas Cook money exchanger two-window counter. The process for money exchange involves the customer handing over their money and passport for verification and records; what you receive back is a transaction record, your Rupees, and your passport. Something went wrong with this last item...

Lets be specific here. You get a *lot* of Rupees for your dollar/yen/pound/whatever. By which I mean part of the money I received was a wad of 100 100-rupee notes that came stapled and taped together. Between getting all these money stowed, having given 2 items, and received two back, being fatigued, and just plain stupid (take your pick and mix); I didn't notice that the passport was not handed back.

Indeed I didn't notice (having stowed everything in my backpack) I didn't have the passport till 10-minutes after we had arrived at K-1-1; so 40-odd minutes after we left the airport. After the initial disbelief it quickly dawned on both of us that the passport must have been left on the photocopier at the money exchanger's. Well, we hoped that.

First thing, lets have K-1-1 phone the money exchanger and get them to check for and hold the passport. Hmmm, afraid thats the wrong number listed on that receipt. Only thing is to go back to the aiport.

So, our journey wasn' really finished - after a 20-30 minute wait Puran our driver was back, and then we drove off to the airport; through much heavier traffic than previously. At the airport we had the mini-drama of convincing two military guards of why we should be allowed into the arrivals area.

Phew, they had my passport and was I relieved? You bet. Then it was another trip back across town, now through the 9am *real* traffic snarl.