Don't do it. Seriously. It sucks.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to forsake your access to money? Have you ever pondered the freedom you might feel if you didn't have to worry about how much something cost, not because you are swimming in unlimited cash but because you don't have the means to buy it so you won't get it anyway? Have you ever wanted to shirk the seemingly arbitrary value assigned to pieces of paper and plastic supposedly representing numbers stored on a secure computer network? Have you ever wanted to experience economic purgatory in which there is no option to resupply diminishing food stores and you can't go out and do anything because you have no physical financial capability? If you answered yes to any of the previous questions, let me cure you of your idiocy: not having money and not being sure when you'll have access to it again is miserable, stressful, and downright annoying.
Last week, after buying some ping pong balls at a sporting goods store, I rode my bike home. Somewhere during that 20 minute ride my wallet suicidally leapt from the side compartment of my bag which somebody had forgotten to zip up. If realizing you've lost the vessel containing your driver's license, debit and credit cards, and most importantly coffee club card isn't bad enough, scouring one side of a bike path for the next hour looking for a piece of tri-fold leather can only be described as humiliating; talk about adding insult to injury.
I cancelled both 'money' cards, and my bullheadedness decided accepting wire transferred money from pops wasn't necessary.
Another little tidbit: FedEx international express shipment of a debit card from Madison to Sweden is anything but express (or cheap - cost around $80). Eight solid days after losing my wallet, I rode my bike to the local post office distribution center to pick up a 2 ounce package containing plastic with my name and some numbers on it; apparently there is no FedEx office in Umeå.
Anyway, I'm alive. And I feel better for having typed this out.
No pictures this time, sorry.
Until next time.
Skål!
This post was panic-attack-inducing for me. I was just on a weekend trip and was wondering how I would even get home without my wallet/ID.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got it mostly sorted out (especially before writing this).