Why do you think she did it on purpose? I was assuming she was storing the passport inside something (a folder, a box), forgot it was in there, and then put the container in the shipping box to be mailed home with the passport accidentally inside. Then, when she went looking for it, she realized what she had done.
It can really suck - especially if you don’t have money. Non refundable round trip ticket, virtually no cash, blew out your budget on the vacation, maybe maxed out credit card, expensive foreign country, no hotel, and you can’t get home for a few days, have a job to return to. Not the end of the world but waaaaay beyond a minor inconvenience.
That didn’t occur to me. Several of asked th OP what happened but he didnt explain it to us.
I was in the exact same situation. That’s when I called my mum to ask if I could use her credit card. Years of hard-won independence obliterated just like that.
Thanks, mom. You really saved my life back then.
Actually, it weren’t that bad. She turned up right on time–she explained how on the UK she described her plight to the people from the State department, from the Airline (Continental), from the embassy, from the consulate, some of them sounding as dire as some of you, some of them a bit more encouraging, and she showed them her documents (including the photocopy of her passport, which was apparently crucial), grilled her a bit on where she was born, where I was born, what her mother’s middle name is, who the secondbaseman on the 1962 Yankees was (just kidding about that last one) and --voila! We just finished our lunch and are heading out for a stroll in the forest.
Thanks to all.
**Chizzuk **nailed it.
that’s a happy ending and a pleasant surprise. Merry Christmas
Bobby Richardson.
Only a Commie spy would have memorized that.
I’m glad I was wrong about them not letting her on the plane.
Yes, I’d have assumed it would be impossible, but apparently having lots of other ID, including a photocopy of the passport (which is obviously very helpful here), can be enough to get you on the plane. However, I’d never advise anyone to rely on that.
True, but when traveling US->Canada, you clear Canadian customs and immigration in Canada. I wasn’t allowed to board a plane leaving for Canada without showing my passport first. If you don’t have a passport, no poutine for you!
I googled it. 
I think there is a spy novel and/or movie where something very similar was a plot point. They caught the bad guy because he knew something completely mundane that no one would ever remember if they weren’t trying to prove their non-spyness.
No Refuge Could Save, by Isaac Asimov.
The Dope’s collective ignorance fought. This thread should be “Exhibit A” for why you should never rely on message board advice for even the simplest immigration matters.
You should probably not rely on message board advice for any matter. But to be fair, she had a copy of her passport, and I assume that’s what made all the difference in this case. I think the lesson is: It never hurts to try. Or, in my native German: “A bisserl was geht immer.”
And also acknowledge that some of us indulge in a bit of hyperbole.
For my “without it you are a non-person” please read “without it you are a non-person until such time as you’ve jumped through the bureaucratic hoops in order to get a replacement”. If the shit hits the fan (e.g. you were on vacation in Egypt last year when they evacuated the tourists) without your passport you would be in a world of pain. Without the copy of the passport, PRR’s daughter would almost certainly have been up shit creek.
Further, the point AK48 makes about having a visa is also very pertinent: if you lose your passport that contains an immigration visa from another country you then have to get your passport from your own consulate/embassy and then reapply to the other country for a replacement.
For example I have an Indian friend living in the UK who has a British working visa in an expired passport. She is obliged to carry current and expired passports when she leaves the UK, and she guards them with her life. If she misplaced them, she could be stuck overseas for weeks while the Indian embassy processes a replacement passport, and months while the British immigration service processes her lost visa and reissues it through their local consulate/embassy.
As China Guy says: “Not the end of the world but waaaaay beyond a minor inconvenience.”
Yeah, she had to go to the State Department, present a photocopy of her passport, arrange for them to get her either a new one or a temporary one. She wasn’t allowed on the plane without a passport. Just like everyone here said she wouldn’t be. What exactly was incorrect?
Having a photocopy is good, but again this is where having it registered with the State Department’s “e-vault” or whatever they call it can come in handy. Glad it worked out for the girl. Note that she did have to get some sort of travel document from the officials like many here said; doesn’t sound like a case of they just let her on the plane anyway because she seemed like a good egg.
I’m glad she made it back in. A friend once spent a week in Canada…they were going over the border from Minnesota for the afternoon - got over, couldn’t get back as one of her kids didn’t have his paperwork. I’ve heard that a photocopy is critical and keep an extra copy of mine in my luggage or carryon - away from my real passport.