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While vacationing in India for a few weeks a while back, the unthinkable happened; I lost my wallet. I luckily still had a passport, but I had to come up with a way to get money wired to India so I could get to the airport and back home. Had I lost my passport as well, this would have been a very different story.

At first it seemed impossible to find a place where my family could wire money to from the United States. All that I had was a passport and suitcase, while I helplessly scoured for a place to get money sent. Finally, I found a place where my brother could send the money.

Ironically, just before I left for the trip my brother warned me to keep an extra stash of cash and an extra credit card in case I lost my wallet. Unfortunately I ignored him, figuring nothing like that had ever happened to me so it was best to keep everything in one place – my wallet.

At the time, I didn’t even have enough money to make a phone call but luckily a vacationing couple from Florida gave me money to make a call and grab some food. When I called my brother, the first thing he asked was if hid extra cash and a credit card.

The moment I realized I lost my wallet, I was headed to to a town I planned to explore before I settled on a place to stay. So while I awaited my funds, I had no place to go.

If you ever find yourself in an equally sticky situation, make sure to have someone on hand back home, then give them the code of the location you would like the money. This code is available at all locations and significantly speeds the process along. Also, to avoid getting shortchanged ask your sender to ensure the funds are converted converted to the correct currency.

Although it was still a spectacular trip, I really did learn a valuable lesson.