'I'm a travel editor and I just made the biggest mistake you can make overseas'
When travelling overseas the single most important thing you need to have on hand is your passport.
And despite my extensive travel experience and the fact that I generally consider myself a very organised person - I just made the biggest mistake you can while on a recent family holiday.
Losing sight of your passport. Or worse, the passports of your whole family.
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Always keep your passport in your sights when travelling. Getty
When we first arrived in our hotel room in Dallas, Texas, I made a room-wide announcement that I had placed our passport travel folder in the "top drawer, passports in the top drawer".
And yet, once we checked out of the room two days later, before embarking on a three-hour drive to Austin, that's exactly where they remained.
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I had completely forgotten about them and left them where they were. And I didn't realise this mistake until two days later.
You see, usually we would place our travel documents in one of our suitcases and lock it while out and about, and it was while contemplating this move before the next day's activities that I (luckily) had the light-bulb moment.
The scene of the travel crime. Nine/Supplied
After realising that I had, in fact, not seen our passports in over 48 hours, I remembered placing them in the drawer of our suite at the Le Meridien Stoneleigh in Dallas.
What followed was a few hours of frantic calls and emails, until we at least had confirmation that they had been found. Hallelujah.
There was an offer for them to be posted to us, but as we were going to be returning to the Dallas/Fort Worth area ahead of our flight home, we were able to (well, my husband was) drive back to the hotel and pick them up ourselves.
We were incredibly lucky. The thought of losing them (while on a trip with our baby) was extremely stressful. But thankfully all is well that ends well and we've made it home without any more drama.
If you lose your passport you'll have to get a replacement one. iStock
What to do if you lose your passport overseas
If your passport is lost or stolen you need to contact the Australian Passport Office on 131 232 straight away, or if you're overseas contact your nearest Australian diplomatic or consular mission.
Once notified, the passport will be cancelled immediately and border authorities in Australia and overseas are notified. This helps prevent identity criminals from misusing your passport.
The Australian Passports Act 2005 has penalties for people who don't report the loss or theft of their passport as soon as possible.
If you're overseas, you can apply for an emergency passport at an Australian diplomatic or consular mission. Emergency passports are only valid for up to 12 months and don't have a chip.
Once home, you'll have to get a new passport and pay the usual fee (you can apply for a full-validity passport at the same time as you apply for an emergency passport).
