How to avoid an amazing amount of travel trouble

Anyone who has lost their passport abroad will know the trouble it takes to get a replacement. STEVE HART finds out what you can do to help yourself.

Maria unpacked, undressed and got into bed in her sleeping compartment, knowing it was a useless exercise. She was too excited to sleep: in the morning she'd be arriving in Paris.

So she was surprised to wake as the express arrived at one of the French capital's huge stations next morning after a good night's sleep. She was even more surprised when she checked her belongings.

Maria's passport, cash and credit card had been stolen. It's one of the risks of travelling on overnight trains in Europe: she believes the thieves drugged her by piping gas under the door into her carriage.

But Maria's nightmare didn't end there. As a British passport-holder with New Zealand residency, French police gave her money for a Metro ticket to the British Embassy in Paris. At 9 am she joined a queue of people needing replacement passports.

"I was eventually issued with a new passport and lent 300 francs."

Next stop, the credit card company to cancel the stolen card. A replacement was delivered the next day.

After three stressful days Maria was ready to start enjoying springtime in Paris - except that her new passport did not have her returning resident's visa in it. When she arrived at Sydney, airline staff stopped her boarding the plane until they confirmed she was entitled to enter to New Zealand.

It's not just crime: accidents can happen, too, even in ultra-efficient Switzerland. Rick Wood was backpacking there when he lost his passport.

"I was in Basel when I found my passport was missing. I called the New Zealand consulate in Geneva - about 140km away - and was told I had to apply for a new passport in person."

Rick hitch-hiked to the office where he was asked a string of questions and, four days later, a new passport was delivered to him in Basel.

"The consulate staff were brilliant," he said. "They asked lots of questions and obviously made checks - but everything was okay in the end."

Now he's in the business as a consultant at Network Travel, Wood has heard lots of lost passport/cash stories.

"There seem to be three scenarios for lost passports," he said. "People have had their personal belongings stolen from hire cars and campervans on holiday, others have had their cabin bag - containing cash and documents - stolen at the airport and the third case is where people simply lose them out of rucksacks."

T HERE are people you can turn to for help if you lose your cash and documents abroad. But there's no quick fix.

Two government agencies can help New Zealanders - one to replace a lost passport, the other to give advice on any other problem.

If you've lost your passport, your first port of call should be the nearest New Zealand Passport Office or a New Zealand representative office. There are offices in Australia, London and 33 other places.

To apply for a replacement passport you will need some form of identification and two photographs of yourself. It might be a good idea to carry spare photos when travelling overseas.

Tony Wallace, a spokesman at the Department for Internal Affairs' passport office, says a replacement passport can take between three days to 10 days to deliver. Collecting the passport in person will reduce the time even more and there are charges that vary from country to country.

"We are here to provide a service," he said. "We try to reissue passports as quickly as possible, but we won't compromise on security. Checks have to be made."

But without money it's hard to get anywhere.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade can help you here with advice and guidance. It operates out of embassies, high commissions and consulates. Its staff are not in the business of paying your bills or giving legal advice. Their aim is to help you to help yourself.

For example, they rarely lend money, but will tell you where the bank is. They will, however, contact relatives or friends back home to arrange a money transfer for you. They won't give legal advice, but have a list of lawyers should you need one.

And they won't operate a mail service for you. In fact, they won't perform any service that is already available in the country. This includes tracing missing people - except in exceptional circumstances - and police, legal or medical matters.

Finding yourself behind bars can be terrifying at any time - especially if you can't speak the local language. However, you do have a legal right to contact the nearest New Zealand consulate representative for advice. If there isn't one, you can ask for a British consular official to visit.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's advice - if you are arrested - is to stay calm and cooperate. Most importantly, do not sign anything without getting legal advice first.

For friends and family of people travelling abroad, the ministry can often be a good source of help in tracking missing people.

Through its network of overseas posts, and links with other foreign missions, the ministry's staff will try to find a missing person by following up on known contact details, the immigration authorities, police, major hotels, hospitals and other likely places. Before its staff start searching, you will need to have made your own search and be "genuinely concerned for the person's safety or welfare".

You could also file a missing person report at your local police station. Officers there will ask Interpol to investigate.

Chances are that going abroad will be a great experience. But it's best to be armed with information on who to contact and what your rights are - and to be careful about going to sleep in strange railway carriages.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Passports - Department of Internal Affairs

Salvation Army

Casenotes

* Keep contact details of New Zealand overseas posts with you while abroad, and register with New Zealand embassies and consuls.

* Keep photocopies of important documents with you and leave a set with someone you trust.

* Keep people at home informed of where you are.

* Consider getting a credit card. If you use a credit card make sure you have the card company's contact phone numbers for the countries you are going to.