Passport problems, again.

Passport problems.   First I left my handbag, with passports in it, in a taxi in Singapore.  Luckily it was returned to me.  Sigh of relief.  

But then more passport problems occurred.   Walter left both his passports in his cloth manbag when he gave it to me to put in the washing machine.  

So the bag and passports have been washed in Surf washing powder, thoroughly.  The bag was hung on the line to dry.  Luckily Walter decided to change back to his cloth bag, after using the smaller leather bag for a couple of days.  When he opened the front pocket, he found the wallet holding two passports plus Dutch birth certificate and Australian change of name certificate.   All soaked with water.  Sodden, in other words.  But very clean.

He put the passports and papers on a table to dry, which they have done so.  The Dutch passport, and papers still look okay, but the Australian passport is definitely warped and wrinkled.  

A moment of panic, as it states quite clearly on the Australian passport that immersion in water may cause the electronic device in the passport to malfunction, similar to dropping a mobile phone in the water. Therefore rendering the passport null and void. A reassuring person at the Australian said that the passport should be okay.  But he did need to get another passport when he got to Australia.

And it all could have been worse.  Walter may not have found the passports for another three weeks, just before we were due to fly to Australia, and then they would have been very mouldy.   Or even worse, he may have packed the cloth bag into his luggage, and then panicked because he could not find his passports.  

Of course we hope the person at the embassy is correct, otherwise Walter could end up in immigration, featuring prominately on the Australian show,  'Nothing to Declare'.