TRAVEL

Someone Stole My Wallet On An International Flight

And I know who did it

No money, mo problems

My wallet was missing. I noticed this about 10 hours into the flight.

It wasn’t in my carry-on bag or my laptop case.

I didn’t put it in the seat-back flap, and it wasn’t in my pockets.

This was bad.

The last time I saw it was at the boarding gate in Toronto.

When I reached Dubai, I was going to have no money at all.

Starving over Bulgaria

The plane kept on shaking.

“There’s a slight problem with the aircraft”, the captain said on the loudspeaker.

“Please fasten your seat belts”

The plane suddenly dropped out of the air and hurtled towards the earth.

There were screams and gasps from the other passengers, and everyone clenched their armrests.

But within seconds, the plane settled again, and the captain returned to the loudspeaker.

“We need to make a stop in Bulgaria.”

I was starving. This emergency landing had pre-empted the meal service.

Inside a dirty sock prison

The airplane skidded, and then came to a heart-pounding stop.

We were escorted through the snow to a cold, claustrophobic rectangular building, with white tiled flooring. It smelled like dirty socks.

This is where we would have to wait.

All the seats were taken, so I sat on the floor and decided to try and fall asleep, still hungry, and still very panicked about the whereabouts of my wallet.

And then I saw it: My wallet.

Senior citizen thief

A very old man, wearing a long grey coat, was sitting in one of the airport seats by the wall going through, what appeared to be, my wallet!

“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the inconvenience. It should be about an hour before we are back in the air. In the meantime, please line up for some refreshments.”

Everyone stood up, including the old man, and crammed into a huge line for free food.

I pushed through several groups of people in my attempts to get to the thief.

Two Bulgarian guards saw me and thought I was trying to get to the front of the line. They grabbed me and escorted me right to the back of the line.

“That man has my wallet!”

They didn’t understand.

To make matters worse, I lost sight of the senior citizen who stole my wallet.

The worst tomato sandwich in history

When I got to the front of the line, I was handed a juice box and a sandwich wrapped in plastic.

Yes, I waited in line for the sandwich. I figured the old man wasn’t going anywhere.

Lunch was a dry tomato and butter sandwich. As hungry as I was, this was still the worst sandwich I had ever seen.

As I stood there, drinking my juice box, I spotted the old man sitting in the corner of the room, eating the lunch he was given.

Forget the wallet, have a sandwich

I bolted over to him and squatted down in front of his chair, aggressively.

“Listen, I know you have my wallet. Give it back to me!”

He looked me right in the eye, expressionless, and didn’t say a word.

Just then, a young man came up to me and touched my shoulder.

“That’s my father. He probably won’t respond.”

His dad had dementia, he told me.

The young man rifled through his father’s pockets and came up with the wallet.

“I’m so sorry about that”, he said, handing the item to me.

“It’s OK”, I said, relieved, and now a little embarrassed by my tone.

I sat down beside the old man, who had just finished eating.

He was looking at me, blankly.

“Here, have the other half of my tomato sandwich.”

He took it.

And we sat there eating together until the plane was fixed.

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