How to Screw Up Your Holiday

Yesterday morning I became yet another statistic. I was pick pocketed on the Paris Metro.
My wallet, which contained my credit cards, Laser, cash and various other bits and pieces, was stolen. So I spent a good part of yesterday hanging around Parisian police stations.
I was able to cancel all of my cards fairly quickly – hats off to the AIB call centre staff – they’re very helpful and efficient.
Hats off to the RATP (Parisian public transport) staff who were also incredibly helpful.
Thankfully nearly my entire family are here in Paris with me this weekend, so I wasn’t left completely cashless and without any way of paying hotel bills etc.
The thing that bothers me, however, is the big “what if?”.
How the hell would you pay for your hotel bill etc., if your wallet was stolen in a foreign country.
Years ago I would probably have been travelling with a bunch of traveller’s cheques, so I would have left what I didn’t need during the day in my hotel. These days we’re all using the Euro and it’s a plastic economy, so you carry your VISA and Laser / Cirrus with you everywhere. You’re not likely to leave either card in your hotel room, are you?