Stolen luggage on a European train: What we learned
The date was March 1, 2024. My husband Roby and I boarded a train that was to take us from Paris to Amsterdam, a trip that was meant to be comfortable, stress-free, and only three hours long.
We’d only been married for barely three months at that point, and it was our honeymoon—a 19-day trip that would see us traveling to Lisbon, Paris, Amsterdam, Cologne, and, finally, Rome. It was a trip that we’d been planning for months and dreamed of for far longer.
Our honeymoon was also my first time in Europe, but I’d been well-briefed by my husband and the internet on the horror stories involving pickpockets, the thieves whose hands steal your valuables so fast, you won’t even feel it.
As a rule, our carry-on luggage and personal bags never left us during the train ride, but the staff required us to place our luggage in a separate storage area located between two train cars. We settled in our seats, kept our carry-on luggage close to us, said goodbye to Paris, and looked forward to Amsterdam.
Everything looked like it was going well. Everything felt like, as cheesy as it sounds, a fairy tale come true. But that changed when we reached Amsterdam.
Just as we were ready to exit the train, we found only my suitcase in the storage area. Roby’s suitcase was gone, and we were about to learn a handful of life lessons in the next few hours.
Think first, cry later
Just like in the movies, it honestly felt like time slowed down. Suddenly, you could hear all the thoughts in your head. Was this really happening? This can’t be real.
I learned very quickly that, as tempting as it is to freak out and break down, you don’t exactly have the time. It was hard, but we had to focus and figure out what the next steps were.
Step one, of course, was to look for train staff who could help. At that point, we were still hopeful that Roby’s suitcase was just in some other part of the train. That hope was quickly extinguished when we did find a train staff member, who bluntly pointed out that our suitcase was probably stolen.
The staff member, however, had instructed us to find the lost and found counter of the station. And while we did find the counter after getting lost here and there, we didn’t find our suitcase. By then, it was beginning to sink in that the suitcase was well and truly gone. So now what?
Make sure to have travel insurance
At that point, there was not much we could do, and Roby made the decision to file a police report, which was a necessary document to file a claim for insurance.
Travel insurance was required when I applied for our visas via the French embassy. What Roby’s suitcase had were mostly his clothes, some of mine, and a handful of pasalubong. I asked if it was still possible to file a claim even if we did not really lose anything of very high value. Apparently, it is.
We eventually found our way to the nearest police station, which was just outside the Amsterdam Centraal station. We informed the police on duty about what happened, and my husband was given a form to fill out so they could produce the needed police report.
For the insurance, we unfortunately needed to wait until we were back in the Philippines to file a claim. Once we got home, Roby contacted his insurance agent, filled out another form, and sent the police report. The form asked us to list down each item we’d lost and the estimated value of every item.
While we did not get the amount we had asked for, we were able to recover some, which was a big consolation to us.
Keep your valuables close
Another consolation we had despite losing Roby’s suitcase was that none of our valuables were stolen. All our cash, debit and credit cards, phones, passports, and IDs were still safely with us.
My husband and I had made it a point to be very careful with our valuables. We chose anti-theft bags for our personal bags, and we went the extra mile by keeping the zippers together with a coded padlock whenever we were out and about.
We also each wore a small pouch around our necks, which we kept hidden underneath our shirts and zipped up jackets. In the pouch, we placed emergency cash, passport, and an ID.
Pack an extra set of clothes in your carry-on luggage
Losing Roby’s suitcase, however, meant that all he had were the clothes on his back. We still had the rest of our honeymoon to go, and he had nothing from underwear all the way to shirts, pants, and spare jackets. It was March, which meant it was still winter in Europe.
Using the emergency cash, we were able to buy him a couple of outfits that would get him through the rest of our honeymoon. Ever since then, my husband and I developed a habit of packing a set of clothes in our carry-on luggage during our travels. That way, should either of us lose a suitcase again, we’d still have some clothes to tide us over.
It’s okay to cry eventually
While keeping our composure was the best thing to do while we figured things out, once all was said and done, my husband and I allowed ourselves to cry.
We cried in the Uber all the way to our Airbnb and cried again when we were in the safety and comfort of our rented flat. Roby even cried some more in the tram the next day as we tried to pick up the pieces of what was left of our honeymoon.
Crying, for me, allowed me to let it all out so I could continue the next day. Crying it all out helped me put it all behind us so that we could start anew.
Constant vigilance
For those who have watched or read Harry Potter, Mad-Eye Moody’s “constant vigilance” is a very familiar phrase. These two words are very important when traveling, especially to places like Europe.
Looking back at the loss of our suitcase, Roby and I always lamented that we weren’t very vigilant with our suitcases once we got on the train.
A part of me wondered if I was targeted from the very start. While at the Gare du Nord train station in Paris, Roby had to leave me at some point to look for the toilet. I was left all alone with all of our luggage, keeping them as close to me as possible and looking at every stranger who comes too close with undisguised distrust.
I probably looked like a deer in headlights. If that didn’t scream “tourist who was not familiar with her surroundings,” I don’t know what else would.
While there are not enough studies to say if thieves and pickpockets target a specific race or demographic, there are studies and interviews with self-proclaimed pickpockets that show what behaviors these people look for in a potential victim.
For example, distracted travelers make for easy victims. When a tourist is busy taking photos or using their phones in a crowded area, they likely won’t notice when they are being stolen from.
Tourists who also have the tendency to display their valuables and dress flashy also make for easy targets for thieves. Cameras hanging from necks, mobile phones always in hand, wallets kept in back pockets, and jewelry on full display are just some of the things that pickpockets look for.
Don’t let one bad thing ruin something great
When Roby’s luggage was stolen, we were at the halfway point of our honeymoon. We still had our whole stay in Amsterdam, plus Cologne and Rome to go. Even then, we realized that our mindset mattered most. It was up to us if we were going to let one bad incident ruin our honeymoon.
At the end of the day, we were only going to have one honeymoon. While we cannot get our suitcase back, we can save the rest of our trip and make the most out of it. We still had more places to see, more food to try, and more memories to make. One lost suitcase and faceless thieves couldn’t take that from us.
And isn’t that how life always is? Bad days will come, but it’s up to us if the bad things will ruin everything. It’s up to us if all we want to see is all the wrong and all the bad.
On terrible days, seeing the good isn’t very easy to do. But as I look back at my honeymoon, I do so with a lot of fondness. We lost a suitcase, yes. We cried in front of strangers, yes. We felt unsafe and unsure in the middle of an unfamiliar land.
But because we didn’t let that one incident ruin the whole trip, and we saw the good despite what we were going through, that honeymoon is still the best trip I’ve ever had.
