Thankfully not my Capital One credit card, which I had left in my money belt back at the hostel (locked in the top part of my backpack, which I didn't bother to put in the hostel locker). And it wasn't really a wallet I'd been using. I had purchased a small hemp-made pouch with the Rastafarian Lion of Zion stitched into it at the weekend market in Bangkok 6 months earlier.
The most important loss of the event was my E*Trade ATM card. Otherwise, I lost my driver's license, about 25 Euro ($35) cash, a photocopy of my passport, travel blog card, hostel business car, and ironically, my hostel locker key (meaning a deposit loss of 10 Euro or $13). Since I last accessed my money before the game started, and thereafter didn't leave my seat, and was seated in an expensive section (63 Euro/$83 per seat), I believe the theft occurred in the metro, which was obviously packed with people.
My blood pressure was boiling when I realized, sitting on my bed back at the hostel, that my wallet had been stolen. I mentioned it to Toti, the hostel owner, as I'd lost the locker key. He certainly warned me enough times to be careful around the city. Hell, even the barber I use my first day warned me about pickpockets! I had kept my right hand on my camera from departing the hostel to getting back because I was worried about theft. I would've been better off to have taken just enough cash for a cab ride back if I missed the last metro, instead of taking my ATM card thinking I might need to access cash for some unexpected reason. Around 1am, I used the hostel's free internet access to e-mail E*Trade to cancel my debit card, but I knew for security reasons, they would only go so far as to reissue it to my home address on record. I didn't remember the PIN number to my Capital One card, which I had never used for a cash withdrawal on the trip. I would have to make do with my emergency cash.
It wasn't easy, but I eventually fell asleep. When I awoke, I ate a quick hostel breakfast, and left for the bus station in a hurry, forgetting to ask for my key deposit back in light of my difficult money situation, and leaving some food behind by accident, though purposefully ditching my Egypt Rough Guide and copy of " Dark Star Safari."? I felt a bit closer to Paul Theroux at the end of his journey, as I too was carrying an intestinal bug from Africa, and to add insult to injury, had just been robbed at the end of my trip.
Next stop, Madrid.
