Are you an Indian traveller who has lost the passport in Spain? Here is what you need to know.

Hola Gente,

Wanderlust ???

Of-course, I have a strong desire to visit the entire world but I had always been more inclined towards Europe and Australia(that I am yet to cover).

P.S. If you are already thinking "Arrey point pe ao yr" and if you are not interested in knowing the background, please scroll down and directly go to the "Tips" section .Honestly, I would have done that too :p :p

Okay okay ... Back to my story .

Not that I have covered many parts of Europe but I am happy that I could visit some of the amazing places like Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Amsterdam etc.

We got an event that we had to attend in Barcelona and I could not have been happier. I extended my trip, took a few days off and decided to explore Spain on my own after our event.

Everything was going as per the plan and Spain is beautiful undoubtedly. From the very first day, I was confused about Madrid whether I should go or not . Later I decided to skip Madrid but .... destiny had something else for me or may be Madrid wanted me to come there ( kidding) .

After exploring a few parts of Barcelona,

I went to Girona( check the cover image) the next day which is a small pretty city . The very next day I decided to be in Barcelona only and explore the remaining parts of it. While I was roaming around the beautiful streets of Barcelona, I realized that my bag was missing when I was sitting on a bench and sipping my coffee. My bag had my passport and visa, all my credit cards, my phone charger, earphones ,glasses and some other stuff. Thankfully I had my phone and money separately and not in bag.

Oh, Did I mention that my brother was also with me and the same morning I told him that he is very irresponsible so he should give his passport to me and I will take care of it . So, ya both our passports were gone.

What's next?

Obviously, we were scared. It's not wrong to admit that we were clueless for a good 5 minutes . After 5 minutes, we decided that one of us should check nearby and 1 should go to police station. So here are the tips:

1. Precaution: "Prevention is better than cure".Don't take your passport anywhere while roaming around the city. Just keep a copy of it and keep your passport safe in the locker in your hotel. If you are in a hostel and you don't trust the security there then keep the passport in a pouch that's always tied to your body.

2. Don't keep all your eggs in one bucket :Don't keep cards, passport, money all in one place. keep things separately( at-least at 2 places).

3. Don't Panic. Please DON'T PANIC: Even then if you manage to lose your passport then don't panic.Shit has already happened. You can't really do much about it. It's very common in Spain ( as quoted by the locals, police and embassy people).

4. Block your Cards ASAP: If you have internet, block your cards( of-course if your cards are also stolen). This should be the first thing to do . Luckily I was sane enough to realise it on time and blocked all my cards in time. If you don't have internet, then read the next steps:

5. File a Police Complaint: Go to a nearby police station and file the complaint. This is really important and please make sure you take the police complaint document from the police ( signed and stamped). Another thing to double-check is that the police complaint should have your passport number mentioned on it clearly. As mentioned in 4th point, you need to block your cards. If you don't have data packs, ask police and they will help you to block your cards by allowing you to either use the internet or call your bank customer care.

6. Emergency Certificate or New passport( valid for a year): If you are an Indian, you need either an Emergency Certificate or a passport to come back to India, so you will have to contact the embassy. Please do not listen to the police if they tell you otherwise. In my case, they told me that a police complaint is good enough to fly back to India but that was a false statement. For citizens of other countries, please call the embassy in Spain and confirm the procedure.

7. Contact the Embassy: If it's a weekday, head to the embassy nearby for the details. If it's weekend then you will have to be stuck there until the next working day, but the good news is you can still call them( on the number mentioned below) and get the information that you need. My passport was stolen on a Saturday morning and my flight back to India was on Monday morning which I had to cancel obviously. Numbers are mentioned in upcoming points.

For any emergency, contact this number- +34917693741 (English & Hindi) - Indian Embassy, Spain

Another number - +34632813288 ( especially during the weekend)

8 Pro Tip- GO TO MADRID: If you are in Barcelona or in some other part of Spain ( other than Madrid), a new passport/emergency certificate can take up to 3-5 days. So, if you are going to stay in Spain for that long then that's fine but if you need your EC/passport early, go to Madrid. Indian Embassy in Madrid provides the documents in 1 day( in most of the cases) . So that's how I ended up going to Madrid. You can take a bus or train to Madrid as the flight would not be the option without a passport. The train is a convenient and fast alternative as compared to a bus. We opted for the Renfe train.

9. India Embassy,Madrid - Av. de Pío XII, 30, 28016 Madrid, Spain

But don't go here directly( you can go for your satisfaction), but they will tell you the same thing that I am gonna tell you next. There is a VFS office which is 400 m from the embassy, you can ask anyone or you can use google map and go there. Take the token, talk to the person when your number comes and they will ask you to fill the form .You can either chose Emergency Certificate(EC) which charges somewhere around 33 Euros or a passport that will be valid for 1 year and charges around 133 Euros. EC is a one-time thing and it becomes void as soon as you enter India. Make sure you carry your police complaint to VFS , your passport size photo if you have otherwise you can click it there .

10. Reach VFS at 9 am sharp: After you get your documents from VFS , they will ask you to go to the embassy and submit those. It has to be done before 1 pm so make sure you reach VFS at 9 am because it can be crowded.

11. Once you submit your papers, they will ask you to come and collect EC/passport between 4.30-5 pm.Go and collect your travel document.

12. Re-issue of Visa - If you have to go to some other country instead of coming back to India then you will have to apply for the visa again.

Once you receive your passport, contact the respective embassy of the country that issued your visa. You will need scans of your old visa and police report. For some cases you need to go to the vendor who will process the visa and submit the documents, this might take a few days.

If you are planning to travel by road and train, you can skip this step and just show the FIR while crossing borders.

P.S. Madrid has some beautiful spots, some great cafes and amazing desserts to try. So don't feel sad that your passport is lost and don't spoil the rest of your trip. It's OK.

Think like this - Now you have an exciting story to tell to your friends. Otherwise so many people go to Spain every year, what's so different about that. You have an experience that you would never forget . And you never know, you might end up learning some life lessons like I did .

Last thing and the most important thing- Sangria in Spain is worth dying for. Don't miss it. I never liked Sangria back in India but Spain made me fall in love with Sangria ❤️❤️.

Until Next Time

Byyyeee

Gracias :)