Help! Lost passports and travelling on Saturday!

[winterrabbit]

We are supposed to be going on holiday on Saturday but have lost our passports. I have literally spent the last 24 hours turning the house upside down and they are not here. I can only conclude that i chucked them out by mistake or someone nicked them (we have had a nanny and a couple of workmen in the house but noone I think would steal them). Tried to book a fast track appointment to replace them and it says no appointment available and from what i am reading we are not going to be able to get one for weeks at best. We can't cancel the flights and DS is going to miss the football tour we were going to. The flights was extortionate as well. I honestly feel like jumping off a cliff.

This happened to us once.

They were in the inside pocket of a winter jacket which had been stored away in the loft.

Hope you find yours op.

Mine was behind my microwave. No idea how it ended up there.

Thanks all. I promise I haver searched every single room methodically. All drawers, cupboards, knicker drawers, wash bags, suitcases, even toy boxes, laundry baskets, all book shelves (pulled out all books to double-check), sofas (put my hand inside), under the rugs, all kids wardrobes and shelves, the loft and they have literally vanished into thin air. It's complicated by the fact that DS1 and DS2 went on holiday with their dad back in April and they (and he) are sure they handed the 2 boys's passports to me when he dropped them back. I THINK he did too but can't be sure although I know I am usually obsessed with getting their passports back and would've chased him until I did, so it makes me think he did give them back to us. It doesn't explain why mine is also missing though. DH and DS3 have their but we were going away for DS2's football tour and there is no way on earth I am leaving him behind. I have searched everywhere and they are not here, I am pretty sure of that, so either we get replacements or we lose the trip. I am honestly too gutted to speak. I think I can change the flights but at a charge of £45 per passenger per flight which is a lot. I will lose the accommodation and tour fee, not sure about the car hire. So I am probably 2k worse off with fuck all to show for it. I am literally crying. Poor DS2. Shit mother than I am.

Totally agree with other posters, it’s really unlikely that they’ve all been thrown out and even less likely that someone has stolen them. They will be there, somewhere.

As others have said, there’s no way you’ll. ever get a replacement before Saturday so you just need to keep looking. Have you checked the car? All bags? Costs and jackets? Behind shelves which they may have fallen behind?

My DH lost his a couple of weeks ago and needed it for an interview. He usually keeps it in his work bag as he sometimes needs it for work. He had checked the bag 3 times and was adamant it wasn’t there. I found it in his work bag amongst other work documents/licenses - he had forgotten it was now black and not burgundy. So methodically search everywhere and then get someone else to search the same places after you. Concentrate on bags, travel wallets, suitcases, drawers. Good luck.

Where do you keep plug adaptors, insect repellent, sun cream ... or the skiiing stuff if you go skiing. Could they be there? Have you checked car gloveboxes?

DO NOT PANIC. Take a deep breath and divide the troops, rope in a friend if necessary. Think back to coming home from your last trip, what steps did you go through when unpacking?

Or- have you had to use passsports for ID eg work purposes? Are they in work bags or briefcases?

Did you use it when you booked the flights?

I've searched carefully everywhere at least 3 times. They are not there. The only explanation is that there was stolen or I thew them away. I had a clear out of my office over Easter and chucked out some papers. I can only conclude that they were in the papers. I alway keek the passports in my home office and they are just not here. DH is good at finding things and he also can't find them.

They "were" stolen.

You need fresh eyes. Look again tomorrow, or better still, ask someone else to help you look.

I don't think insurance will cover it but have you checked?

Surely if you were sorting out old papers the passports would have been obvious amongst them being smaller, darker and thicker? Don't give up

Agree to ask a friend to help. I did thus when I lost mine, they don't know your house like you do and will look a different way and be less emotional. I was beside myself but my friend found it in about half an hour.

Wouldn’t you have needed your passports when you booked your flights/accommodation ? If so, they can’t be far away . Good luck

Do you have Euros? Dollars? Could the passports be with your money or other banking stuff or birth / marrige certificates?

If not , I agree, fesh eyes and a little rest... you have 5 days to find them!

Tell us where you normally keep them and the last time you remember seeing them.

You didn’t by any chance get passport covers by any chance? My friend thought she’d lost hers. Her and her Dh were leaving that morning for a holiday. But they couldn’t find hers as it was not in the usual place.

Turns out she’d been given a black leather passport holder, which she’d put her passport into.

when they were searching, they were looking for a red cover which is why they missed it.

They found it just before they had to leave.

I really hope you find them.

The fact that it's just your two eldest DCs and yours that are missing is probably relevant - do you normally keep all family passports together (i.e. your DS3 and your DH as well as yours and your other 2 DCs?)

If normally kept together - then it seems like you've deliberately taken the 2 DSs and your passports out for a reason. Was it for ID? To book the flights? If so could they logically be in a different place to the other ones..?

We lost a passport a few years ago. It turned up in a box of stuff which hadn’t been opened since we moved house, despite being certain we had the passport after the move. So, look in places you’re sure they won’t be. Because they aren’t in any of the places you think they are and they’ve got to be somewhere.

I really don’t think they’ve been stolen or thrown out.

Do DH’s and DS3’s passports usually live in a different place?

Do you have filing cabinets in your home office with hanging dividers? I've found 'missing' documents which have been slipped in between the dividers rather than placed inside one. They are then completely hidden in the bottom of the drawers below all the files.

🤞you’ll find them OP. Check every pocket/compartment of every bag/case you used before.

Just recently I had gone mad more than once, looking for a linen top I hadn’t seen for months.
It finally turned up, still neatly folded, in the front zip pocket of the carry-on cabin bag I’d used last September.

You haven't used them for ID have you and left them in a pocket, DS did this, he had an interview then said he had lost his passport to go on holiday and found it in his rarely worn suit pocket. I found my lost driving license in a pocket, I had put it there to put away.

Would ex have handed them over while you stood at the door? What is near your entrance way? Maybe shoved somewhere to put away properly later? Stand at your door and imagine having them in your hands....

THIS! I lost mine six weeks before a school trip I was leading (got a new one) and that’s where it was!

op they have not been stolen. Echo the advice to look methodically. When did you last use them? Have you used them to book the tickets? Yy to carry on bags etc.