How To Not Lose Your Phone On Holiday (From My Own Experience)

How to not lose your phone on holiday? I’m not sure if this is something that everyone will worry about as much as I do but I’m sure for anyone when this happens you will see how difficult it can make your time away.

I talk from experience and coming from someone who has lost 3 phones on 3 separate holidays in the space of just 2 years I can tell you it can ruin your whole trip.

In so many ways!

For me, there is certainly a common theme when it comes to losing stuff. Maybe you could be mugged or pickpocketed but each time for me it has been due to drinking too much and the company I’ve kept.

For this reason, the companions I travel with I call the Gremlins.

If anyone knows about World War 2 – if anything went wrong with aircraft in flight they would say it was the Gremlins. So I think the name is fitting. But to be fair to the Gremlins I know the last thing they want is the earache of me losing my phone or anything else.

And it isn’t ‘actually’ them It’s usually people I end up meeting whilst away that put me in these bad situations but with that said I have been to about 30 countries over the past five years. In some places more than once and only 3 times have I lost my phone and this has been with the Gremlins. I think it’s because I drink more and go to places I usually wouldn’t.

Anyway, so, I guess you could say I’m kind of an expert on this topic. I hope someone can read this and finds this information useful.

I’ve got a few good tips to prepare for this situation so let’s get started here.

 

How To Not To Lose Your Phone On Holiday

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Now, I can tell you that this is an inconvenience like nothing you will ever feel. If you think about things you need a phone for…

• To scan your plane ticket to get back home
• Check in if you don’t have any other Internet access
• To help communicate with non-English speakers
• Using Google Maps to find your way about
• Transferring funds to your travel card
• 2FA to access bank accounts, PayPal, and other personal accounts>

*When you’re away you need to receive texts for 2fa (2-factor authentication) and everything from PayPal, bank accounts, and eBay (if you sell online) you will not be able to access. Not getting on eBay drove me crazy on my last trip as the messages just kept coming. I also missed out on about £100 of sales because I could not accept offers.

Seriously…

There is nothing worse and you can’t enjoy your holiday when you have no money. It has its perks such as having more money when you get home and stumbling across sights that you wouldn’t stumble upon otherwise if you weren’t getting lost but for me, the worst things are getting behind with work and not being able to find my bearings without Google Maps.

Also having to ask for help OMG. This is a lot of the time just asking for trouble.

So What’s My First Tip?

#1 – Get Yourself a Cross-Body / Shoulder Bag

This is something that applies to Men more than Women. Girls usually like to have a bag with them going most places but I think at least 2 of the times I lost my phone it was because I didn’t have one of these bags.

Maybe I will share a post about these different mishaps in the future.

I mean, to be honest, I am not surprised I lose phones when I go out with nothing more than a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. You ‘basically’ have to carry your phone (and everything else around in your hands). You should find you’re usually pretty careful as you know how important these things are but then one too many drinks and this is all it takes – that one dizzy spell where you put things down and can’t remember where you put them.

I mean I wonder if STILL this is even enough. The last phone I lost before Lanzarote was not because I had loose pockets. I got thrown out of a karaoke bar in Magaluf because they didn’t like my singing.

I had my phone on charge and they were adamant that I was not allowed back in. So I wandered off to let them calm down and I could not find the place again.

So a bag is handy to have 100% but you need to be careful STILL even more so and this brings me to my next point.

#2 – Don’t Leave Your Phone With Strangers

*Be Cautious About Where You Leave Your Phone On Charge

Like on my recent trip to Lanzarote, I can’t remember what happened when I lost my phone. It could have been several places where I lost it and I have 3 theories;

1.) It fell out of my pocket. Someone was good enough to hand it in at the bar but it wasn’t somewhere I went to find it.

2.) It was stolen. I asked to put it on charge at the bar and as I was so drunk I couldn’t remember giving it to them and they kept it to sell.

*This I think was very likely. I see them selling phones just like mine for 50 euros just down the road in Puerto El Carmen. I think this would be a good little moneymaker.

3.) Someone like a fellow tourist found it and decided to keep it.

People might be nice when you travel. For a while, you will think you’ve just made a new friend but not everyone is a good person.

It’s sad as there are a lot of decent nice people you will meet on your travels but seriously do not trust anyone.

*My sister’s tip I think is good to add in here. Make sure at night you charge your phone but also get a power bank. This will help you if you run out of battery when you’re out.

I don’t know if this would have helped me in Lanzarote. If I’d had the bag yes maybe but on the topic…

Lanzarote is an amazing place to visit. Food and drink is cheap. Accommodation is not too expensive and the things you can do if you’re not getting wrecked. SERIOUSLY!

To get out there for me. I paid £4 (GBP) on the bus to the airport and £35 return flights. I had to pay for a taxi back £25 but if I got back in the day would have been £4.

For me, £50 easily could get me out there and back (depending on the time of year).

Will be my challenge for next time but here’s the thing. VERY IMPORTANT>

#3 – Are You Going To Prepare For The Worst

If you wanted to prepare for losing your phone what I would say is this…

Get a travel card and leave your bank card at the place you’re staying.

This happened to me in Mallorca and I could not eat. I had to ask for water anywhere that was good enough to give it to me (otherwise I had to go without it) but the worst part was I could not afford the bus fare to the airport and I missed my flight.

£150 I had to pay and I nearly missed this flight as I had such a bad rash around my legs that I struggled to get to the gate in time. I was like a crab scuttling I’m sure so many people were laughing their heads off about this.

So I would advise you to bring a credit card as a backup even if you are over the limit you should still be able to use it – worst case scenario. But yes get a travel card I recommend Caxton.io. This can save you money on currency conversions too.

And this is ANOTHER THING TOO if you lose your phone you will probably lose your boarding pass. This is a royal pain in the backside so simple BRING ANOTHER PHONE that can access WIFI.

Even leave your good phone at your accommodation with all your important apps etc. and bring out your other phone that if you lose it’s not such a big deal.

AND something you might not think of BRING A 2nd Simcard. In the UK I’m with Tesco Mobile if you phone them for free from any Tesco sim card they can transfer your lost number to the new sim. This takes less than 24 hours.

However, you need an email to receive the security code. It’s the number and security on the sim card you will need as well and you need to get a second code by text.

This might be a bit of a problem but whilst away in Lanzarote I was able to access my hotmail. G mail was a pain in the backside. Yahoo I was no problem.

I bought a new phone in Lanzarote. It did make me feel a bit happier but it wasn’t a very good phone. It will be perfect for my next trip (I think) and I will bring a separate camera maybe. Just leave my good phone at the place I’m staying and make do with this.

If you have a backup smartphone you will be ‘basically’ all sweet within a day. (My belief)

I didn’t do this in Lanzarote. Neither did I bring my shoulder bag which my sister got me for Christmas (which she gave me early especially) but these are my most important tips.

Besides this, the one thing I can not stress enough is to keep yourself on a level.

#4 – Do Not Get Carried Away

Around the time I lost my phone in Lanzarote. I felt like I was being set up to fail.

Using my card I felt like they were overcharging me. I didn’t only lose my phone but I spent the whole 120 euros I had.

I was a lamb to the slaughter. You are either sitting at the table or you are on the menu.

New tourists are easy pickings. Somewhere like Lanzarote can be VERY CHEAP but watch out for places offering free drinks all they are is bait to hook you in with. Go and see the sights, not the mites.

I will finish up this post here but in conclusion.

The Perfect Holiday

It’s possible. It helps to go to places (countries/cities) more than once. If you are once bitten then don’t be twice shy. Take the opportunity to steer clear of troublesome situations that you’ve experienced before.

I am thinking about a second trip to Lanzarote for this exact reason.

Never got to Fuerteventura and never went on any tours. If you check out Viator.com there are some good ones. You can see the Volcanoes, there are Submarine tours, and dolphin and whale spotting as well. Plus other things too.

I’m going to start looking at possible options soon – cheap places to stay, getting there and back cheap, and getting the most bang for my buck. Unlike last time.

£60 a day I think is a good amount to have. £15 a day is reasonable for accommodation and yes it’s just getting there. £500 I think is plenty for 5 days. Maybe a week you could stretch this for.

My Final Tip

The reason I got to fly out and back so cheaply was budget airlines. EasyJet and RyanAir.

If you can get flights with Wizz Air this doesn’t ‘really’ apply but especially with EasyJet if you are carrying that little bit too much they can charge you anything up to 70 euros.

So just beware of flying with budget airlines. Either make sure you don’t bring too much luggage or pay for a bag. My Aldi bag for life was great for this. Had the Mickey taken out of me so many times for this and started going away with other bags and last 2 trips EasyJet got me for the last bit of money on my card.

I believe RyanAir can be just as brutal as this too so heads up on this tip.

And, For more Travel Tips check out my eBook on Amazon – Teddy Bears Travels Presents… The 10 Most Expensive Mistakes To Avoid When Going Away<<<

*Also not published as much as I would like to on this website. Will try and get back with more stories and travel tips soon…