mike carey

Ain't that the truth! Towards the end of my service, Diners won the contract for the Defence corporate card (so perhaps 100k cards on issue). To start with it was a nightmare but it seemed Diners used the fact that Defence personnel were using the card to encourage merchants to start accepting it.

Thanks for that story @Charlie, so many instances of ways to become separated from cards and other documents. And another positive Amex story, there seems to be a pattern emerging (although no doubt the counter-examples will now emerge!). I well remember in the days before ATMs and all that sort of technology were linked globally, being able to cash a cheque on my Australian account at Amex offices in Washington and London.

@MikeBiDude, I'll be judging companies by how long it takes for replacement cards/documents to show up! Nothing quite so cold-war dramatic as yours, I suspect! I'm at home so at least your visa card issue won't apply. When the shit hits the fan (hope that isn't a uniquely Australian expression) Amex come through. They always did claim 'replacement world-wide' in their advertising.

Yes, something I'll have to look into. I currently have a very basic Samsung phone with no memory left for additional apps, and I don't know much about digital wallet apps. When I was cancelling one card, they said if I was using the app (presumably theirs, not Google Pay) the new card could be loaded immediately. Not sure if I could have used it for cash but once you have a card, any card, you have less need for cash anyway. All good suggestions, not just for me but for everyone as this can so easily happen and it's good to be prepared.

Australia Post has a reputation for that for parcels (not specifically for 'signature required' deliveries). You'd hear nothing then find a card telling you to go to the post office. I had to sign for the delivery today, one of those annoying devices where you use your finger to sign and your signature looks like you were drunk.

Probably safer than a wall safe, thieves seem likely to steal a safe intact and break into it at their leisure once they've left the scene.

Wow, 1430 on Tuesday and my Amex card was just delivered by DHL courier (it's a premium one, so I guess that's part of what you're paying for). I had notified them in the small hours of Sunday morning.

I actually have a copy of my passport (it was in my backpack so that could have been a challenge) and had my expired drivers licence. I could have used my car registration papers as ID for a new licence. Second copies stored elsewhere are in order, and of other documents as @deej suggested. Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions and precautions you offered, and thanks to others for their comments. Being caught as I was focusses the mind, but as some have noted hearing of someone else's experiences does so also, if less viscerally. I have the first replacement done, bought a new Canberra public transport card and called their information line and had the old balance transferred to it. I'll get the balance of my Sydney card refunded and tap a credit card in future (exactly the same fares, discounts etc), one card fewer to carry.

Yeah, I know! They must have rummaged through it, and dumped it when they didn't find anything of interest. The stuff was taken from my house so I had a starting point from which to look for things, and I just got lucky.

The point I am making is, that if your world collapses how prepared are you to pick up the pieces and continue. Some parts are relatively easy, some require you to be prepared.

Ok, the circumstances are not particularly relevant, but my wallet and backpack were stolen over the weekend. I recovered some of the stuff (it was dumped in the street) but a heap of stuff is gone. Credit Cards Easy, I called the companies and they were cancelled. This was my priority. The problem: all my cards were stolen so I didn't have a fall-back. Now I just have to wait for them to send replacements, and they said 3-7 days. Passport I jumped the gun and cancelled it but in the morning I found my backpack and recovered it. But the cancellation was irrevocable and I'll have to go through more hoops to replace it than would have been needed if it were still valid. Lesson: if something that's stolen won't affect you the way a credit card can, don't cancel it until you're sure it's gone. Airline Cards I have two airline frequent flyer program cards that double as loadable credit cards. The amount I have on them is limited but I needed to cancel them and that was easy enough. Drivers Licence I could have requested a replacement on line, but that required a credit card for the fee and I didn't have one. At the office (a 20 minute drive away) it was simple (it's a state government organisation), helpful receptionist assisted me with the right forms and directed me to the counter I needed to visit. Paper licence issued with the photo version to be posted within two weeks. Medicare Federal bureaucracy this time, helpful receptionist, 15 minute wait and interim national insurance document issued with replacement card within two weeks. (I need that to access any health care providers at the Australian resident rates.) Bank With no cards and no cash, I was constrained in what I could do. My main bank is a high street bank so there is a branch I could go to, worth thinking about if that's likely to be an issue. I knew my card number (even though it was cancelled) and account number (I have a list of those details, although I knew my Visa card number without the list). With that info, the process of withdrawing the cash I would need until I had replacement cards was easy. Retail Loyalty Cards I have two, with accrued rewards points. Not urgent, but their on-line sites have adequate replacement mechanisms. I have one other, but I'll be able to fix that next time I shop there. Transit Smart Cards I have Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne pubic transport cards (and others but they weren't in my wallet, except a NYC card that is now a lost cause). I've cancelled them but I'll be able to easily transfer any credit to a new card. I'm sure I've missed some. This has forced me to think about what I can do to limit the effect of a theft. A couple of points would be to keep any cash completely separate. and to keep a credit card separately as a back-up.

I would offer another suggestion as to how to characterise this and similar threads. That is, that a poster offers his experience in a meeting that didn't go quite has he'd envisaged it. It doesn't mean he is seeking validation. Maybe he wants advice on what he could or should have done differently, but even then new insights can only keep being offered for so long before they start repeating what has already been said. At that stage there is less reason for him to keep commenting. There are other things that threads like this offer apart from advice or validation for the OP concerned, and that includes awareness by readers, particularly those new to the game, of things that can happen in a meeting so that they can be forearmed.

My South American experience is quite dated but it accords with more recent experience elsewhere. Use ATMs on arrival. (I used ATMs in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Chile and they paid standard international rates, and in some countries they would dispense local currency or USD - noting that I was drawing on an AUD account.) On my trip earlier this month I changed AUD for NZD at 87c, on arrival I withdrew more from an ATM in the terminal at 103c, so I got 16c less per AUD from the Bureau de Change than I was paid from the ATM.

A diversion. I once read a list of preferred ways of contact: 1. Text. 2. e-mail. 3. Phone call. 4. Climbing in through my bedroom window. 5. Linked-In.

Yes, it is happening, all are welcome and multiple people have long since booked flights and accommodation. Most of the details have been covered in this thread (and if you search for threads about previous years' meetings you'll find details on them that will give you a feel for how this year's will run). In summary, a dinner in a local restaurant and a pool party, with other meet-ups of varying degrees of formality. The Canyon Club and Inndulge are two of the more popular accommodation venues, and forum members socialise around the pools in those establishments and engage in other assignations (and not so secret meetings).

It's a default Tumblr image to indicate that the image posted is behind some sort of password or other access control on the site.

Some people can flaunt it (e.g. BN), others, not so much (e.g. me).

Clearly I should have driven home from the airport after Aotearoa, changed my clothes and jumped on an aeroplane to go to Washington and .... Nah, that wouldn't have worked. But. Guys. Have a great meeting in DC this weekend, don't do anything I wouldn't do (and as you don't know what I would do, that means do whatever you like).

Thanks, it was an amazing trip, we had a ball. I still have NZD in my wallet so I'll have to go back.

Yeah, 'thread', that's it, 'thread'!

I'm using a Windows 10 computer and Firefox, and I get the generic visit Tumblr image. I haven't been checking the gallery for a few days so don't know if it worked differently before. Same deal when I looked using Microsoft Edge. That would seem to indicate some sort of permissions problem, and as it goes to a Tumblr default image it implies the permissions issue is with that website.

I'm late to this discussion, but I think the hive mind has confirmed your initial gut feeling that it would not be a good idea. The list of answers to the question, 'What could possibly go wrong?' is not short anywhere, but I suspect longer in a conservative community. To the suggestion that there might be an answer other than a straight yes or no, I disagree. HBO makes films so the choice is binary. The calculus might be different if your story was being sought for a PBS radio documentary or a print piece, but those formats are not on offer, at least not now.

So sorry to hear about these issues, wishing you a swift recovery.

I'm used to being able to read the narrative comments on reviews while I'm at home in Australia and not being able to see them when I'm in the US. Before SESTA/FOSTA they were able to be read in the US. I was travelling with in New Zealand for the last two weeks with some US-based guys and they commented on the fact that they could see the comments. Escorts outside the US can post their rates on RM, unlike their American colleagues.

I had noticed the icon there forever (well, I don't know when it first registered that it was there) and had always seen my avatar there for my comments, so the speculation above about what the P represented was obvious to me. I hadn't noticed that it showed how many times I had posted.