Singapore-Changi

I was woken up by a cleaning guy at the airport. I turned around and all things were missing (bag, jacket, money, phone). I just had my passport on me. First I run around the airport in a panic trying to find my staff, but no luck. I moved to the information desk and reported missing baggage. There I waited for the police to write a report. Again I made a search around the whole airport that is very big. On return, there was no news about my belongings.

I tried contacting my sister because it was already morning in Europe. That took quite some energy. First I borrowed a tablet from the information desk but couldn’t log into my mail without a phone. Next, I tried registering new mail, same thing. I borrowed a phone from one lady there and wrote to my sister on social media, but that went to spam. Finally, I got a response from my best friend’s wife. She contacted my sister. I explained the situation and asked her to send me money via Western Union. I got some water and cookies at the information desk. While I was waiting I walked around again without any luck. Back at the information counter, there was no info from the sister, because the lady went home with her phone. At the smoking area, I got cigarettes from a Canadian guy who was on his way to Ukraine to fight there as a soldier.

Finally, I got in contact with my sister, got my PIN number, and was ready to go pick up my money. But that was not an easy task. First, because I missed my flight I just couldn’t walk out of the airport. Walked to the Scoot counter but it was closed. After half an hour asked around and someone from another counter started calling around. 15 minutes later came a lady, some explaining, we filled out some form and she accompanied me to exit, again explaining and another form. On the other side of the gates again to the information desk. I needed some kind of transport to Western Union and had no money. Also, I had 45 minutes before the last office would close. This lady who was the whole time with me, Lavania, paid for my transport (Grab, 21 SGD) and gave me some cash 5 SGD for food. I got tears in my eyes by the kindness of this lady. I arrived at Western Union 5 minutes before they closed. If I missed them I would sleep on a bench probably.

Sister sent me 2000 €, but I got SGD with their exchange rate minus commission. I went first for dinner (thali), an Indian restaurant, 35 SGD. Then I bought the phone (Samsung A05) with SIM and charger and paid 200 SGD. Found a shop with clothes, but nothing in my size was there. I was on my way back to the airport. The cheapest was the metro, but I walked a lot to find a place that sells cards and then back. It was after midnight and the metro stopped before the airport. Shared a taxi with a couple. I tried to buy a ticket to Taipei, but at the airport, the ticket was 400 € instead of 200 € online. I sat a bit to relax.