My Handbag Was Stolen — Here’s How You Can Avoid Making the Same Mistakes As Me

I’m not blaming myself but I could have avoided some heartache

Recently, on a trip to London, my handbag was stolen. I’m not sure exactly what happened. One minute it was on my shoulder and the next it was gone. I believe the strap might have been cut, which I didn’t notice until it was too late.

It was not a fun experience, to say the least. I was on my way to the train station, heading home. The loss of my bag led me to miss my train as I doubled back to make sure I hadn’t simply dropped it or left it somewhere.

I was lucky that a friend of mine was able to drop my car keys off at the train station when I arrived so I was able to get back home.

But now I am faced with the headache of having to replace all my lost items. Some of them are easily replaceable. I had to buy a new handbag and a pair of AirPods. Other items, like my driver’s license, car keys, passport and other IDs, credit cards, etc. are a bit more complicated. I am still working on those. Some items were irreplaceable. The keychain my brother gave me as a wedding present. The charm my mom bought me at Lourdes that I kept in my wallet for luck.

While it was a difficult situation, I learned a lot from it. I compiled a list of advice in hopes of helping people avoid finding themselves in the same situation as me.

Travel with the bare minimum

I decided to bring my passport with me on this trip. I wasn’t crossing any borders but I figured that, since I was still in a foreign country, it couldn’t hurt to have my passport.

Just in case.

I definitely regret it. I did not need my passport on me. I could have left it in my locked suitcase. I could have left it at home. Instead, it was in my handbag and now it’s gone.

Replacing a passport in a foreign country is very difficult. I am currently refreshing the French consulate page every hour every day in order to try and book an appointment to get a new passport. If I manage to book an appointment, I will have to travel down to London. And then I will have to wait at least 4 weeks to get my new passport.

In the meantime, I am not able to leave the UK. I can’t go to France to see my family or prepare my wedding as I had planned. I can’t travel. I feel stuck.

On top of that, I worry about identity theft. Whoever took my bag now has several of my IDs. It’s not a good feeling.

All of that because I decided to bring my passport just in case.

You don’t necessarily think twice about what’s in your wallet. You usually have one wallet in which you put all of your cards and don’t consider having a separate wallet with just your essentials for when you travel.

In my wallet, I had bank cards from three different countries. I did not need to have all my debit and credit cards with me. I had my UK resident card. I had my Canadian Permanent Resident card. I had loyalty and membership cards from a number of different places. I had an old health card from Canada.

I did not need to have all these things on me. Definitely not while traveling in a large city.

The loss of some of these things is not that bad. But replacing resident cards is complicated. And, once again, identity theft is at the front of my mind.

I bought myself a small cardholder. When I’m able to travel again (sometimes in the next few months hopefully), that is what I will bring with me. It will contain a form of ID, my driver’s license if required, and my credit card. That’s it.

If I lose that, it will be much easier to replace than what I now have to go through.

Wear your bag under your coat

I was wearing a fairly thick coat. My bag was small and light. Therefore, I did not feel that it wasn’t there anymore.

If I had known better, I would have put the strap of my bag under my coat. Not only would it have been easier to carry (I wouldn’t have had to readjust the strap all the time as it slid on my coat shoulder), it would have prevented it from being stolen.

Having my bag under my coat would also have placed it in front of me rather than behind me, which would have been much safer.

In some ways, it is slightly less comfortable to carry a bag this way, especially when you’re sitting. But it is definitely safer. I would still have my bag today if I had been wearing it this way.

The same goes for a wallet or a phone if you do not carry a handbag. It is much safer to keep those items in inside pockets, or at least pockets that can close, than in your pant pockets.

I’m trying to not let this incident make me paranoid but I do think that these are simple things I can do to avoid putting myself in that situation.

Have your contact information in your bag or wallet

When I first lost my bag, I wondered if I had just dropped it or left it somewhere. I contacted all of the places I had been but it was nowhere to be found.

I wondered if someone had maybe found it.

Even if they had, I don’t think they would have been able to get it back to me. I realized I had none of my contact information in my bag. My name was in there, on my passport, driver’s license, and my IDs. But the addresses on those do not match my current address. And my phone number is nowhere in my bag.

If someone were to find my bag, the only way they would have to contact me would be to look me up on social media. I have a fairly unique name so they might be able to find me. But I know that most people lead busy lives and would probably not take that extra step.

I now have a paper in my bag with my name and phone number. I considered including my address but I figured that, if my bag was stolen, I would rather not hand someone my address and my home keys.

Bonus: if your bag gets stolen, don’t blame yourself

I know that I did many things wrong. I wasn’t vigilant enough with my bag. I was carrying a number of things I didn’t need. I didn’t have my contact information in my bag.

The first few days after losing my bag and reconning with all the work I would have to do in order to replace everything, I was very down on myself. I went over what I had done that day over and over in my head.

I blamed myself for every decision I took. That morning, I had considered leaving my passport in my suitcase and chosen not to. The day before, my mom had told me to wear my bag more towards the front. I listened to her and then automatically went back to wearing it behind me like I was used to.

And then I realized it wasn’t useful to blame myself. Even if I had done everything right, it still might have happened. So I moved on.

I’m still sad about the things I lost. I’m sad about the trips I have to cancel because I don’t have a passport. I’m sad that a really nice weekend was ruined by something like this.

But I’ve let go of the blame.

I’ll be more vigilant in the future. But I won’t be paranoid either. These things happen. It’s no one’s fault. Except maybe the person who took my bag’s. If that is you, please give it back. Or at least my IDs. It’s terrifying being in a foreign country without any form of ID.

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