It's all part of a day (or night's) work for a travel agent, but there's still a unique sense of dread that comes with a certain type of call from a client – or even worse, from their mum.
"Can you call Finley? He can't find his passport."
Derby-based Travel Counsellor Kirsty Fisher leapt into action.
Finley, 20, had been visiting Brazil with his friend to fulfil his dream of seeing Iguazu Falls. The £5,000 trip itself went smoothly, with the youngster ticking off all the boxes on his to-do list over the course of two weeks.
However, this "holiday of a lifetime" came to a jarring halt when Finley arrived at the airport in Sao Paulo to fly back to England – and realised he couldn’t find his passport anywhere. This occurred after his original flight home had been cancelled, and Kirsty managed to get him re-booked onto the only other direct service back.
What followed was a three-day-long ordeal, complete with failed embassy visits, a hefty Uber bill – and a bag full of dirty clothes.
“It was horrible,” Kirsty told TTG. “He was in the holding area waiting for the plane when I found out. His mum rang me suddenly, and asked: ‘Can you call Finley because he can't find his passport?'."
Kirsty immediately got Finley on the phone, who informed her he’d last seen his passport in his bum bag. She instructed him to go to lost property, but he was told nobody had handed it in.
She then urged him to approach airport police, who should be able to show him the CCTV footage. Finley was once again turned away, with the officers insisting they couldn’t see anything on the cameras despite the fact he was wearing a bright blue jumper and had only visited a cafe and a seating area.
“They’d barely been anywhere, but he put it down and it must have gotten stolen,” Kirsty said.
Once it became evident Finley wouldn’t be boarding the plane, he said goodbye to his friend and began focusing on how to acquire an emergency travel document.
“I started speaking with the consulate who said we'd need to apply for an emergency travel document online so he could go to the British Consulate in Sao Paulo the following day,” Kirsty said.
A plan was formed; Finley would stay at an Ibis hotel in São Paulo before collecting the form from the consulate.
‘It was one thing after the next’
However, when Kirsty called to double-check the paperwork, she discovered the British Consulate’s Sao Paulo office doesn’t actually process or issue emergency documents for walk-ins.
She was told Finley would instead have to collect the document from Rio de Janeiro, an hour’s flight away. “He obviously couldn’t board a plane without ID so we looked into getting him a bus,” Kirsty said.
This posed yet another barrier – in Brazil, international visitors are often required to produce ID in order to buy a bus or train ticket. “It just felt like one thing after the next,” Kirsty recalled.
“He couldn’t get on a flight. He couldn’t get on a bus. He couldn’t get on a train. We were like, ‘What are we going to do?'."
In the end, Finley on an Uber, setting him back a whopping £450. Six-and-a-half hours later, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Here, he was able to retrieve his emergency passport and finally make the long-anticipated journey home to the UK.
“We were all just so relieved,” Kirsty said. “It had been three days at that point and Finley had only been travelling with a rucksack and the clothes on his back because he’d checked in his luggage at Sao Paulo. He actually asked the taxi driver to stop at a mall on the way to the airport so he could buy some new clothes!”
Kirsty’s support didn’t end here though. She stayed up until 2am to track his return flight, having grown “so emotionally invested” in his wellbeing. “My own son is 18, and as a mum, it was just awful,” she said. “When the plane finally touched down in the UK, it was just like, ‘Thank God, he’s actually back safe'."
On arrival, Finley was greeted by his family, who were over the moon to have him home after such an “emotional rollercoaster.” His mother has since hailed the Travel Counsellor for her constant guidance, noting her consistent communication and commitment to the repatriation mission.
“Kirsty spoke to me with such care, I can’t tell you how amazing she is,” she said. “I will never forget her kindness and professionalism.”
Finley’s mother is now enquiring about a holiday for Christmas – but this time, as a whole family.
“She’s joked, ‘Oh, he'll only ever go away with us now. It’s going to be a while till he travels on his own again!'," said Kirsty.
