What would you do if you lost your wallet in a foreign country?

When I was living in Liechtenstein and working for Hilti, I had 9 vacation days to do as I pleased. It was August 2021, and some of the Covid restrictions had been lifted, which allowed me to travel outside of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. So, what did I do? I went to the Czech Republic.  

The Bus Ride to Cesky Krumlov

The plan was to visit my friend, Luke, whom I had met 9 years prior at Camp War Eagle, in Arkansas, and then make a few pit stops along the way. I went to Brno, then Prague, then to Pisek where my friend lived, and then I made my way to Cesky Krumlov. 

After spending a day and a half with Luke and his family I took an evening bus from Pisek to Cesky Krumlov. But, because of the way that it works, I needed to go from Pisek to a bigger town to make a transfer, and then I could take the bus to Cesky Krumlov. It was about a 2 hour ride, plus the transfer, so by the time I got there it was dusk. 

Cesky is a phenomenal town. Apparently it’s the second most visited town in all of the Czech Republic, after Prague. The town is in a valley, hidden by the rolling hills of Southern Bohemia, but just as we came to the bus stop I could see what all the fuzz was about. 

Cesky Krumlov is basically a medieval fantasy town preserved in time. Even as dusk was falling over the city, I could see the beautifully adorned houses all built tightly out of stone and with pointed wood and terra cotta roofs. The streets were all cobble stones, and they were narrow, with lots of bridges and tunnels going over the river that snakes through the middle. There was much to explore! But it would have to wait till the next day.

The Inciting Incident

Eventually, I made it to my hotel, which ended up being this tiny sliver of a room only about as big as a minivan. It was only big enough for a single bed, a TV above the bed, an armoire, an unnecessary table that made it difficult to walk around the room, and a bathroom with a shower. It was all crammed together, and that was going to be home base for the next three days. 

However, it did come with breakfast included, so the next morning I got up, got breakfast, (praise the Lord!), and then I walked out to explore the town. 

Cesky Krumlov is amazing! I remember I went to the entrance of the town, and I walked all the way down the streets to the other end of the town. I wanted to get a lay of the land and I was just amazed by how beautiful everything is. Beauty is hard to describe, but this town defined it.

The streets reminded me of that scene in Tangled, where Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel are dancing in the town square. The night before I hadn’t noticed the fact that it is more or less a circular town in shape, and that it’s surrounded by huge castles that served as walls for the city. Just pure fantasy. 

But then, it was lunchtime. So, I thought, “Well, I should go buy something to eat.” As I was walking around looking for a place that seemed good I realized I didn’t have my wallet on me. I thought, “Well, bummer, I probably left it back at the hotel.”  

So I walked to the hotel and looked for my wallet in my backpack. I couldn’t find it, so I looked in my second backpack. Then I looked through the clothes that I was wearing the night before. I looked in my shoes. I looked everywhere in the room and then I realized “Oh, no. My wallet is not here.”

The Hunt For The Missing Wallet

Once I figured out that my wallet was not in the hotel room, I started retracing my steps. I walked the exact same route that I had done that morning while I was exploring. I had my eyes pinned to the ground checking everything out, and seeing if I could find it. Mind you, Covid restrictions had just been lifted in the EU, so there were loads of people out on the streets. It was just as possible that anyone could have snatched it up. All I could do was hope for the best. 

I went to the town’s tourism office and I went to a money exchange place to see if they had seen my wallet. The tourism office people were very kind. They spoke really good English. They asked me to leave my number with them and they said that if anything turned up they would let me know. They also gave me pointers of where else I could look. God bless them. 

When I walked up to the window of the money exchange place, the lady on the other side of the glass looked up with a bleak expression. I said “Hi, I lost my wallet. Do you know if anybody has brought anything?” The lady did not show any sort of empathy, emotion, or care and simply shrugged. That’s fair. God bless her, too. 

Just because we Americans tend to sugarcoat everything doesn’t mean that other cultures are going to do the same. Especially in a situation like this. This was a busy tourist town, and things like this happen all the time. Still, I had to try. 

Phoning a Friend

Then I thought “What if I left my wallet at Luke’s house?” So, I called him. I explained the situation and I asked him if he could look for my wallet at his house. He said “Hey, let me tell my wife to look for it, ’cause I’m at work. But,” he said, “another thing we can do is we can call the  bus company.” This was such a clever idea, and something I hadn’t thought of. Then he offered. “Let me call the bus company and let’s see if they found anything.”

A few minutes later Luke called me back saying “Yeah, I gave them your number. They said they were going to check and that they were going to call you before 6 PM to let you know if they found anything.” 

To my great comfort Luke did offer to pay for my bus ticket all the way back to Liechtenstein if worst came to worst. Praise God. I also called my friends in Liechtenstein to let them know what was happening in case I might need some help.

My Sad Afternoon in Cesky Krumlov

So, thankfully, I had help, but still, I was on vacation. I didn’t want this to happen. By the time I got off the phone with my friends it was about 2 PM in the afternoon. I was sad because I had lost my wallet, I couldn’t afford a full meal for lunch like I wanted to and I didn’t know what to do with my day anymore. 

I remember scrapping together something like €7 in change. My thinking was that if by the end of the day I still had no money, then this is what I would use to buy food. I walked around the beautiful streets feeling mopey and sad, when I heard music being played. Around the corner down a small narrow street and lit by the sun was a cellist sitting on a stool playing. 

He was just outside of a cafe, so I walked in and I thought I would order the cheapest thing on the menu, which ended up being a flat white for about €2.50. I sat down at a small round table outside and listened to the musician, and for a moment I had peace. But of course, I was still annoyed and sad. 

I was sad that I might have to end my vacation prematurely, and annoyed, because I blamed myself. A big part of me believed it had been because of my carelessness that I lost my wallet. I went back to the hotel and I prayed. I let God know my feelings. “God, this isn’t what I wanted for my vacation. Lord, I pray that somehow my wallet comes back.” 

The Call of Hope

My hotel host had given me a map of Cesky Krumlov when I first arrived. It was one of those cute cartoony illustration maps that are not really drawn to scale, but it’s designed to show the highlights of the town. The map had a list of something like 14 different overlooks and scenic viewpoints that one could go and visit. I decided that if I had to go home early, well at least I wanted to see the city, so I went looking for all of them. 

I gave myself the mission to check off as many of those viewpoints as I could. I was walking around the city, when at some point around 5:30 p.m. I got a phone call:

“Hi, Mr. Flores?”

“Yes?”

“You lost your wallet?” 

I said, “Yes!” 

They said, “We found it. It will be on a bus. The bus is going to get to the Cesky Krumlov bus station at 7 p.m. 

I said, “Great. Thank you so much!”

Praise the Lord! They found my wallet! I finished up what I was doing, I checked all the boxes, and even found a hedge  labyrinth from an old palace and then I went back to my bed and breakfast to wait for 7 p.m. to come around. 

The Sprint for my Wallet

When the time reached 6:40, for whatever reason, a part of me said, “I’m going to start walking right now”. It was about a 10 minute walk uphill, so I figured that I would arrive 10 minutes early. I’m never early to anything, so pulling this off was rather odd for me. Still, I had nothing to do, and I was excited to get my wallet back. 

At the entrance of the town there is a hotel with a bridge that one walks under, and immediately after that, the road one is on becomes a bridge itself. I remember walking over this bridge and getting a look at the road below and seeing a big yellow bus arriving at the bus station. I thought, “Huh. That’s weird. It looks like the bus I was on last night.” 

Upon seeing the logo on the side, I realized that my bus had arrived early. I instantly burst into a sprint from the bridge down the road and followed it all the way down a big rounded curve that led to where the bus station was. I ran those last 200 meters like my life depended on it.

The Hardest Interaction

I arrived panting and sweating. I stood by the door of the bus bent at the waist as I waited for the last few people to get off the bus. The bus driver then came and stood by the door and I waved at him trying to explain what was happening. I said “Hi! I’m here looking for my wallet.” 

The thin man with gray disheveled hair did not speak much English. So he responded by pushing his hand in front of me and saying “No, no, no, no! No more passengers!” To which I responded “I don’t want a ticket. My name is Raul, I am looking for my wallet. Did you get a phone call? I was told to meet the bus driver.”

I was trying to say all these things, and the guy very clearly was not understanding me. He had the look of someone who was ready to go home and who didn’t want to deal with anyone else for the rest of the day. Our interaction was going nowhere and only made both of us frustrated. I was also growing desperate, so when I saw him turn around and make way back to his seat I pretty much shouted Prosím! Prosím! Which translates to Please! Please! 

He turned around and stood at the door looking very annoyed. I held out my hands and made the motion for him to wait just a second. I got on my phone, and with shaking hands I typed into the Google Translate app the word for wallet. I showed him my phone’s screen and with a frown he looked at it. Without saying a word he turned and unlocked a cubby right at the entrance to the bus. He opened the cubby, pulled out my wallet and held it up for me to see it. 

Immediately I reached for it while saying “Yes!! Ano! Ano! Thank you! Děkuji! Děkuji! The man turned and closed the cubby. Walked up to his seat and closed the door. 

The Celebration 

I started walking back into town slowly. It took me a second to get over the shock of almost missing my wallet for that night again. But then, as I kept walking I saw a tavern that was open. I was hungry and I decided that I was going to celebrate. I sat at one of the long wooden tables and I ordered a traditional pork knuckle and a pint of Pilsner beer. Na zdraví!

I sat there by myself watching everyone around me (They didn’t have surround TVs playing sports 24/7 like they do in the USA). I had the plate of food in front of me and my phone and wallet on the table as well. It was here that I noticed that both my wallet and my phone were black. No wonder I lost my wallet!

I thought back to the bus ride I took to get to Cesky Krumlov. I remembered that there was a mesh bag in the seat back in front of me, and I put my phone and my wallet in there. Well, when I got to Cesky Krumlov, and it was already dusk I didn’t see my wallet. Of course! It was black and it blended in with the black plastic of the seat in front of me. 

How to Not Lose Your Wallet

So as soon as I got home I got on Amazon and ordered a bright orange phone case because I wanted to be able to see it. Same thing with my wallet. I swapped the black one for a big tri-fold light brown one. Thinking there was that not only was the wallet going to be a lighter color, but also, it was big enough that if I dropped it, I would be able to tell that I dropped it. 

The lesson here being that when you travel, it is good to have brightly colored items, especially for these smaller items. One more thing I might add is that, if you look at these items as a tool rather than just an accessory, it will help you keep accountability on them. A wallet is not just a means for getting stuff, it’s a key that allows you to navigate through the world. Same thing with a phone. 

Expect the Unexpected

If I hadn’t shown up 10 minutes early, I wouldn’t have had any food for that day, and I would have gone to bed sad and hungry that day. But thankfully, I was able to recover my wallet. All thanks to my friend who had the sense to call the bus company. That goes to say, when something like this happens, exhaust your resources. Check everywhere, call your friends, call the bus station, see what they have to say. Cover all your bases. 

When you go on a trip to a new country, always, always learn a few courteous words. Words like “Please”, “Thank you”, “Excuse me”, “Hi, my name is Raul”, etc. All the simple basic things that are so important because they can save your life. That moment when I said Prosím to the driver is when I got him to finally pay attention to me, and he did so because I got on his level. I managed to find common ground with him, and he got me my wallet. Praise the Lord. 

And, lastly, expect the unexpected. Expect for these things to happen. They’re going to happen. Thankfully, it turned out really well for me and I was able to enjoy the rest of my vacation in Cesky Krumlov. However, that might not always be the case. 

There are things that you can do to prevent catastrophe from happening, but it’s not going to guarantee that it’s not going to happen. There are many stories that I’ve experienced where I’ve missed my bus or missed my train. I had to buy the ticket again, or I got lost, or worse, I had to sleep on the street because of poor planning. Sometimes unfortunate things happen. And, you know what? That’s fine. That is okay. Life goes on. There is still beauty to be found in the middle of all of this.

• P.S. I use the Google Translate app because it allows you to download a whole dictionary in any language right to your phone. That way, even if there is no signal one can still communicate. (Sponsor me!)

I hope this story is encouraging to you. If you know somebody that you think this might be encouraging to as well, go ahead and share it with them!