What to do when you lose your valuables overseas.

I went to Malacca on 14th March to 17th March. It was a fun experience but something unexpected happened. And it happened to me.

I went to Malacca with my boyfriend and his family. I was walking with him and his group of cousins along a road that had no street lamps after a really good dinner nearby our hotel when suddenly a motorist zoomed past me, grabbing my bag along. I tried pulling my bag back but because it was of lousy quality, it snapped and the motorist went off with my bag. I was shouting and hurling curses at the motorist until he was out of sight and that was then I suddenly realised that everything I had on me was in that bag - my passport, IC, phone, wallet and a polaroid camera. I broke down. Not because I lost the money and not because of how much all that was worth, but I was afraid that I couldn't make it back to Singapore. Suddenly, I turned into someone without any form of identification and didn't belong to any country. I cried really badly and was saying repeatedly, "My passport, my IC. Everything was inside." And believe me, it was equally big a shock to my boyfriend and his cousins. After a while, we walked back to the hotel and my boyfriend's family helped me make calls to Singapore Consulate, M1 and the various banks back in Singapore to cancel my stuff.

I'm just so damn glad that these people were there for me when my bag was snatched. They helped me in whatever way they can and I'm really thankful for that. And in order to show how thankful I am, what I did was to enjoy the rest of the days at Malacca. (The snatch-theft happened on the first day.)

So anyways, this post is to not for me to go on and on about how upset I am with my loss but to pass on the knowledge to you guys on what to do if you were to lose your passport and/or IC when you're overseas.

1. Make a police report.
Yes, head to the nearest police station right away regardless which country you're at. It may be difficult or even impossible to get your stuff back but it is important that you have a police report because you will need it for the Singapore Consulate and airport/Singapore checkpoint.

2. Head to a Singapore Consulate.
Be prepared cos you will need to pay a certain sum of money for a temporary passport. Also, you'll need to submit your police report and a passport photo.

3. Cancel all your bank cards/mobile line.
Use the hotel phone or someone else's phone to make a report to the bank(s) and telephone company. It is important that you do this to prevent any money being withdrawn from your account and to prevent any additional costs made to your mobile phone's line.

4. Be prepared to be bombarded.
Everyone is going to ask you what happened everywhere you go - the police station, the Singapore Consulate, Singapore Airport/Singapore Checkpoint. It is gonna be quite tough especially if yours was a robbery or snatch-theft, so brace yourself and not flare up at these people because they're just trying to do their jobs.

5. Go to the nearest police station.
Immediately. Show them the police report from the overseas police and also the temporary passport.

6. Head to ICA.
Head to ICA the next day once you're back in Singapore. It's open from 8am to 5pm from Monday to Friday and 8am to 1pm on Saturday. Bring along your temporary passport and police reports. It is essential. Also, $100 for loss of IC.

To be honest, on the night my stuff was snatched, I couldn't sleep. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was that moment when my bag got snatched, over and over again. It was a harrowing experience but I was just glad that I didn't get pulled along with my bag. So guys, stay safe when you're overseas. If you're carrying a backpack, carry it in front and if you're carrying a sling bag, cross it over your body and your bag should be in front. But in any case still, have fun if you're going overseas!

Travel Tips!

Hey lovelies, I'm back againnnn! Anyways, I'm going overseas soon in April and I'm really excited about it! -jumping for joy- Okay, so before you go overseas, there are a few steps that should be done and I just wanna share with you lovelies to prepare you for your trips! Here it goes~

1. Check your passport validity date.
This is the most important step of them all cos if you didn't check it before you book your holidays and only realised that you cannot get through the security check because your passport's validity date is less than 6 months.. well, horror. They wouldn't let you pass. So please, do check your passport's validity date, like right now if you're going overseas soon! Example, if you're going overseas on 20th April 2013, then your passport has to have at least a six months' validity, which means 20th October 2013. If not, head to ICA asap to get your passport renewed or else face the horror of being rejected to go on that trip you've always been looking forward to.


2. Set all details.
Now, a lot of people tend to book air tickets in a rush and then things get messed up and stuff.
A) You should first check your flight details. This is important because some budget airlines like maybe Scoot, they only allow carry-on baggage. If you have a luggage with you, you'd have to pay a certain amount of money for your luggage to get checked in. You may check the airlines' websites for information on this.

B) You should also always check the timing for the flights. Assuming you're going to Thailand, like me, on a 5D4N trip and you hope to spend all your time wisely, pick flights to depart from Singapore in the morning. I picked mine to be at 7am. Yes, I know it's ridiculously early but I can get some rest on the plane so I guess it's fine. But taking a morning flight would mean that I would get to spend more time in Bangkok rather than reaching Bangkok at 7pm and have dinner and just go to sleep since a lot of shops close early there unless you're going to the red-light district or night markets.

C) Also, check your hotel check-in and check-out timings. Okay, I admit, I made a mistake here. I booked a 7pm departure flight from Bangkok when my hotel's check-out time is 2pm. So for 5 hours, I have to think of where to place my luggage if I'm going anywhere. So do take note of this as well!


3. Compare prices.
Okay, I booked a package that includes air tickets and hotel rooms at Zuji. (Click on Zuji to go to their website.) The prices were rather reasonable and I'm just glad that I actually get to know about Zuji! They're famous for reasonable prices for packages! Anyways, if you guys prefer other companies or want to book not as a package, you may go to Accorhotels for hotel bookings, Chan Brothers, Dynasty Travel and CTC Travel for packages or individually. Anyways, for more choices you can just google them.


4. Make sure you have your e-tickets.
This step is for those who booked your tickets online. Remember to print out the information required and your e-tickets so that you'd be able to get on the plane without any hassle.


5. Pack your luggage in advance.
I always try to pack my luggage 2-3 days before the trip so that I wouldn't be panicky and forget stuff. Remember to bring medicines like the ones for diarrhea or your personal medications. Have a small bag with you or a travel wallet so that you wouldn't have to carry a bulky one wherever you go.


6. Write down a list of things to buy.
Okay, this is a step for shopaholics who're afraid of overspending so write up a list of stuff to buy before you go there and try to limit your budget per day.


7. Get to a money changer.
Yes, please get to a money changer to get your currencies instead of waiting till you get there to change your currencies. You can change some locally first, then when you're there you can change the remaining money.


8. Happy travelling!
Hope you lovelies who're going overseas would find this list of tips helpful and enjoy your holidays! Till next time! X

Late New Year Resolutions.

Once again, I left this blog to rot. Sorry, I didn't mean to! Work was crazy but I like the crazy working hours cos it keeps my mind off stuff.

Alright, I know this post has come a little late but here are some of my new year resolutions.

1. Do something about my future.
Yes, I'm graduating from Singapore Polytechnic this year and I have to think about my future. University or work? I'm leaning towards the latter. A lot of people around me are trying to psycho me into getting into University but I don't think studying is really a thing for me. Plus I think I'll most probably die from the stress if I were to study any more. For me, I like working. I like doing things hands-on. Being an intern at Showmakers has proven my point. Even though I complain about being tired and all, I actually enjoy working there much more than sitting through lectures and tutorials in school. Furthermore, I have taken an interest in the things I'm learning and experiencing through my internship and along with the help of a mentor, I am thinking of entering this industry after getting my diploma certificate.

2. Increase my weight!!!
Okay, really. My weight has been annoying me for so many years and yet still remain stagnant despite the amount of food and junk food I eat!!! I'm annoyingly skinny to the point whereby finding clothes seem to be hard and some clothes actually look ugly on me cos I'm just too skinny. Bottoms are really hard to find since my waist is 24 inches which makes me a size 2 and I've no idea why most shops I go to don't really have size 2 available for me. But no worries, I'm gonna continue eating more and hopefully hit 45kg by the end of this year.

3. Fly to somewhere.
Bangkok, Taiwan, Hongkong, just anywhere that I can fly to. It's not that Singapore isn't great, it's just that everything is getting pricey here and I need to increase my wardrobe content so I have to fly to somewhere where clothes are much more affordable as compared to Singapore! Plus they have really good food there and leaving Singapore for a while somehow allows me to leave my problems here for a while too.

4. Update my blog more.
Okay, guilty. It's not that I don't want to but it's more of like I'm too tired to. I'm spending whatever time I have, apart from work, to eat and sleep. Yeap, most of the time that's what I do cos I'm too tired to do anything else. But a promise made so I'll try my best to blog whenever I can!

In any case, somehow I'll forget all these by next week since my memory space is like the size of a pea. Or according to one of my best classmates, 'smaller than that'. Anyways, I hope you guys would have a great year ahead and a late Happy New Year to all of you lovelies reading my blog! Thank you for reading my posts even though they're like irregularly posted and of broken English. Take care and stay happy, lovelies! X