If you have to ditch your usual purse, a very small cross-body bag should be OK. Last time I traveled I had it out to go through security and then stuck it in my carry-on to actually get on to the plane while holding my boarding pass. Took it out before I placed the bag in the overhead. Fit under the seat with my other bag just fine.
After one bad post-concert experience where my then BF now DH completely forgot where he parked at a large stadium (I must have come with other people), I try to focus on where I park every time. But last year I got very confused at the Grand Canyon when I went from our camp site to watch the sunrise and didn’t recognize the rental car in the parking lot. Felt so very silly when I realized I had walked past it several times (and yes tried clicking the key but somehow didn’t see it working, should have tried the panic button but didn’t think of that!!).
[quote0If you have to ditch your usual purse, a very small cross-body bag should be OK. Last time I traveled I had it out to go through security and then stuck it in my carry-on to actually get on to the plane while holding my boarding pass. Took it out before I placed the bag in the overhead. Fit under the seat with my other bag just fine.
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@mom2and I will do that next time. I am never ditching my purse ever again after this harrowing experience.
I take a picture of my rental car, including plate, after too many times forgetting what on earth I was driving.
DH lost his phone on a run in Washington DC once. Someone found it and turned it in to the concierge at their hotel. Since I’m the first non-911 contact, the concierge called me, and husband had it back in hand the following afternoon.
I can’t leave the house, even to let the dogs pee in the yard, without muttering “keys, phone, wallet.” They must think it’s some sort of command by now.
I would love more of these tips. I have made a point in the past couple of years to always park in the same parking spot at work (even though it is a teeny bit further) so that I never can’t find my car.
I have to physically “eyeball” the item as I am putting it down on the counter - like phone or keys.
I find if I actively look at the item before I walk away, I am less likely to forget where I put it.
I am pretty sure I got this tip from CC.
Not sure it is just a “senior” thing, My youngest is the one that lost his ticket on a recent trip. And my middle one put his wallet in the seat pocket in front of him and then left it on the plane. Luckily, he was able to retrieve it prior to the next flight! And my DH was in his early 30s when he forgot where he parked at the concert!
I just spent 10 minutes painfully hobbling round with my boot and cane searching for my kindle which I was SURE I had plugged in to the charger in the bathroom this morning. Finally gave up and went and sat down and commented on it to my H. Turns out He had taken it because he was going somewhere and doesn’t like to take his because all his stuff with passwords is on it. Grr. Well at least I hadn’t lost my mind - this time…
It sounds like you were very lucky, with everything coming back to you.
My husband’s philosophy is that losing things comes in threes. After he’s lost three things, he gets a bit of a break before he starts losing things again.
My technique is that every time I leave a place, I stop, turn around and look at where I’ve been, making sure I haven’t left anything. I swear, every time I don’t do that, I leave something there. I just left an empty glasses case in Phoenix, and someone actually stole it. Hard to believe, that would never happen in Seattle. You can leave your wallet, cellphone, and odds are you’ll get it back.
Really sounds like all you need to do is secure everything so it can’t fall out. In a purse, bag, somewhere zipped up, not stuffed in random places.
@jym626 The Samaritan who found DH’s phone returned it to the hotel where they (Samaritan) were staying, and concierge told me when he called me – DH had to go to another part of town from where his own hotel was to get it back.
Oh, sorry, I’m screwing up my pronouns. Concierge didn’t know where DH was staying – concierge let me know which hotel concierge worked at, which was hotel where Samaritan was a guest. Example (winging the names, because I don’t remember):
DH was a guest at the Plaza. He went out for a run on the river trail and lost his phone. A total stranger, Samaritan, was walking along the same trail at some point later in the day and came upon it. Samaritan was staying at the Ritz. Samaritan picked up the phone and dropped it off with the concierge at the Ritz on their way back to their room. Ritz concierge calls me, says one of his guests turned in a phone which has me as a contact. I confirm its location and say I’ll contact the phone’s owner. Concierge says it’ll be at the security desk. A sheepish and grateful DH goes to the Ritz to pick up his phone. Nobody needed to know where DH was staying.
I happened to have taken a card from the hotel and put it in my wallet so I would remember our hotel address and phone. They used that card and my name on my driver’s license to confirm I was at that hotel!
Many years ago, I ran a bunch of errands one morning (went to the store, took the dog to the vet, took the kids to the water park, went down some big water slides with them) , looked down and noticed that my diamond was missing from my ring! I went to the office at the water park where they said they could check the filtration system of the last slide we were on, I called the vet (no luck) the store (no luck) and finally called the insurance company. Got home, where the babysitter said “did you lose this on the kitchen floor”? — yup, my diamond!
S2 left his passport on his flight to London en route to Moscow for a summer language program. Didn’t realize it til he got to Passport Control, at which he went back to the plane but couldn’t board to get it. Fortunately he had an eight hour layover, so while he didn’t get much sleep at the onsite hotel, he was able to get back to LHR early and a kind airline rep was able to get to the plane and retrieve the passport. This was the night of the derecho in the DC area, we had no power and I had just been released from the cardiac rehab hospital. I spent half the night on the phone with him and the US Embassy in London figuring out how he could get a replacement passport.
DH loses his glasses all the time. He doesn’t have to wear them constant;y like I do, which definitely contributes to the problem. Also loses his wallet, keys and watch.
I take pictures of parking spots, rental cars and get hotel business cards. Also have a little pouch in my wallet with a detailed list of my medical history, medications, doctors and emergency contacts. I use this ALL.THE.TIME. I don’t remember all my dosages and almost all the pills are generic (I take about 15 pills per day), so they are often white, and may change in shape depending on which manufacturer has the lowest cost this time.
I put my phone and keys in the same place when I come in the house. I still lose my phone in my bag all the time – it’s not super huge and it’s lightweight, so it gets lost in the other clutter.
I found an envelope filled with what I assumed was cash outside the local branch of the credit union a few weeks ago. I picked it up, took it back into the credit union, and was relieved when the staff member I gave it to said he thought he knew who it belonged to.
