Disaster Averted

My love affair with Madrid continues. Or, more precisely, the love affair of Madrid's pickpockets for my belongings has continued. Last time it was money and I go0t about half of it back from the insurance. A pain to be sure but life went on.

This time they got my passport. It will cost me about the same to replace3 as what I lost last time but it has cost me a lot more in time and anxiety. The Australian embassy were terrific, I got there at 9:30 and had my replacement by 3:30 so the trip can now go on. Specifically, I can now catch tomorrow's flight to Malta.

A couple of tips.

• The address given by Google for the Australian embassy is wrong. I didn't take Google's word for it and checked on the Australian government's DFAT site so it wasn't a problem.


• When you get to the embassy allow about 20 minutes to get through the security procedures. The process takes a bit of time to get to grips with and go through.


• If you do need to go to the embassy, you will need your passport with you otherwise you will not get through the security. In my case because my passport had been stolen I had to show the police report.


• If you need passport photos, you get them from a machine in the British embassy (2 more painful trips through secuity - once to get into the British embassy, and then again to get back into the Aussie embassy). You also need to have coins (currently E4) with which to operate the machine (I had E3.5, and 90c in coins the machine didn't accept). Suggestion for the embassies - it would help if they either relocate the machine to the foyer or if the Aussies get their own machine. Either way a machine that takes E5 notes would also be useful, even if it didn't give change.

I had been in Madrid all of about 20 minutes when this happened

• Picked up bag at airport.


• Purchased Metro ticket at airport Metro station.


• Caught train, changed trains at Mar de Cristal


• Before getting off to change trains again at Avenida de America I notices that my day pack had been unzipped. And a quick look revealed that my passport, and nothing else, was missing.

Of course this had to happen on a wee3kend (Saturday afternoon) so the embassy was closed until Monday (thankfully though it is not a long weekend as well). I had to mske 2 trips to the police station and a phone call to the police 24-hour service. An anxious weekend and Monday hoping I'd be issued with an emergency passport for my trip to Malta very early (6:25) on Tuesday morning. And a wasted Monday in Madrid which turned out to be another glorious day.

Wile at the airport in Barcelona Mariaane had questioned whether I should make my passport more secure. I had just been telling Marianne how the passport pouch I had, which had been given to me by Robert and Joanna 25 years ago, was one of the most useful and long lasting presents I'd received. I put that into my day pack in between a bunch of papers. I no longer have that present or the passport it contained.


So Marianne was right. Again. In spectacular fashion. And I now have a passport with a photo that would be very much at home on "Australia's Most Wanted". In case you're wondering, it was me who added the pixelation!

Still, it could have been worse.

All is good again now, but I still have to get through Rome and Barcelona.