A Little Scare on a Chilly Day in Ushuaia
We awoke late in the morning to rain. Feeling a little unmotivated, we snuggled up and went back to bed for a couple more hours. Ushuaia is 2 hours ahead of Toronto and while we weren’t feeling jet lagged, we did feel a little groggy from our over 30-hour journey from Canada. So we caught a couple more hours and to our delight, the sun was shining by the time we were ready to leave for town.
The sky had that perfect mix of cloud that Dave finds so perfect for HDR. The grey, yet fluffy clouds interspersed with blue skies as the wind blows changing the scenery constantly. It was the perfect time to take advantage of the sky before the next weather front moved in.
So we be braved the cold winds of Beagle Channel to grab photos and videos for our happy blog. We brought warm clothes with us, why didn’t we wear them? Gloves would have been a great idea, but no, all we had were our sweatshirts along with my new Canada Hat and Dave’s Rudy Project touque. That’s the extent of our protection from the Antarctic breeze. We’re Canadian eh!
Never ones to turn away from a challenge, we kept on taking photos and videos and found the beauty in the chilly Antarctic breeze. We got lost in the work and it was late afternoon by the time we finished exploring.
Time to Eat.
One problem though, everything closes between 3 and 5 and every restaurant that we entered turned us away in disgust. We found the only cafe open in town and made it in just in time. It filled quickly with other starving travellers and soon there wasn’t a table in the house. The rain came down as we ate our meals and we watched people duck in to look for a table only to leave with their heads down in search of comfort and warmth someplace else.
Here’s Where Panic Set In
It was when I went to pay the bill that I noticed one of my cards was missing. We went to the ATM the day earlier to take out some pesos and somehow my bank card didn’t make it back into my wallet. We searched everywhere and panic set in.
What if I left it in the ATM? Someone could have cleaned us out! We ran back to the bank to see if anyone may have turned it in, but naturally it was closed. Everything shuts down here between 3 and 5!
We caught a cab back to our hotel to search for it there and to check the Internet to see if any money was missing. Luck was on our side, because all our banking was still in order. If someone had our bank card, they didn’t take any money out.
We still have our OneSimCard that we use to make calls when traveling, so we called our bank in Canada to cancel the card from our iPhone. We didn’t have to find a pay phone to call collect, we just called direct and it cost us about $2. While our hearts were still pounding, we were relieved to find that our mistake didn’t cost us any more than a cab ride and a cheap phone call.
We are normally so much more careful that this. We know better. We’ve even run after other travellers in the past who left their cards in the machine to give them their cards back. We’ve joked about how we pay attention to things and would never be so careless because we are paranoid about everything when it comes to money. And yet it finally happened to us.
It Can Happen So Easily.
We remember being engrossed in a conversation. We chatted while we were banking and we weren’t paying attention to what we were doing. We think we didn’t finish off the transaction and while talking away, left without our card.
Whatever the case, we learned a valuable lesson and the next time we go to the ATM we are going to concentrate on the task at hand.
10 Responses to A Little Scare on a Chilly Day in Ushuaia
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We were so afraid of this happening in Asia! We actually had a backup money market account that didn’t carry a balance, but that had a debit card attached. If something had happened to our regular ATM/debit card, we could have transferred money to the backup account and used that card instead. When you’re on the other side of the world, there is often no way to get a replacement card, and often, no place accepts a credit card in developing countries!
I was recently without any working credit or debit cards in Chile. I was completely dependent on friends. It was so frustrating and I wondered what happened if I was alone and had an emergency expense? Anyway, one card arrived in the mail a few days ago. Yay! I guess I’m saying I feel your pain.
Oh your poor things! What an awful feeling – that moment when you realise something like that is missing and your heart just sinks. I’ve only ever had it happen once too (touch wood!) Unfortunately it happens to the best of us
So glad your accounts were intact and it all worked out for you. Keep warm and enjoy Antarctica. So exciting!
Cherina | Quiet Wanderings recently posted..There’s Something About Melbourne
Glad nothing terrible happened! When reading the story it brought back many memories of this summer!
Sherry Ott recently posted..Authentic Cultural Travel in Mongolia – Ger to Ger
At least it had a happy ending.
Lane recently posted..Travel Access For All
Yikes! Definitely a panic moment. Thanks for that tip about OneSimCard though!
So scary! I would have been in such a panic. We use our ING account while traveling and only put about $400 at a time into our checking, so that’s the most anybody could ever get. That helps me rest a little easier.
Christy recently posted..Late Night Riverwalks & Taste Bud Orgasms – Where to Eat in San Antonio
That is a great point Christy. It is important to keep daily fees to a limit or to keep a minimal amount in your bank account. It can be very stressful when something like this occurs, we’re lucky it turned out ok.
Oh man, I’ve always been extremely lucky on trips and never had anything like that happen (knock on wood!). It was really smart of you to immediately call your bank and cancel the card before anyone could get a large amount of your money. Did you ever figure out exactly where you lost it? Well, no matter, glad to hear that everything turned out fine and all you had to do was order a new card. Good thing you were aware of your belongings!
I think that we left it in the ATM. That is the only thing we could come up with. There is a delay after you get your money before the machine spits out the card, so we must have been distracted as we were talking and simply walked away. We’re lucky nobody was behind us in line. Most likely the ATM timed out and kept the card. But alas the bank was closed when we went back so we coudn’t ask them to take a look. It was safer just to cancel the card.