Hungary: Day 2 - Disaster, My Only Travelling Companion

I awoke at 7am, as I awoke from the haze of sleep I imagined for a moment that I was still in Paris and that I had the whole journey ahead of me that day. My head cleared quickly and I prepared myself for the day somewhat relieved. I went for breakfast which was a reasonable buffet including proper cereal and sausage and scrambled eggs.

When I came back to my room, around 8.30 I started to gather my gear for the day. I had all the fencing gear I needed in a bag and began to get together my other bits and pieces. I soon realised that I didn't have my wallet. I was positive that I had it the night before - I had paid for the taxi to PBT and gone back to my room and fairly sure I had had it on the bed the night before but now it was nowhere to be found. My jacket was one of the last places I had it so I checked it thoroughly. I checked all my bags, the bed, underneath the bed, rolled out all the sheets, even the bathroom and repeated the process again and again and again. It was positively not in my room - damn!

I checked down in the hotel restaurant but no wallet had been handed in. I asked at the front desk but to no avail. Now quite panicked I searched my room and emptied all my bags and coat again and again. All the while it was getting ever close to 10am when the training was supposed to start. I texted Keeth Smart from the US team, who told me they were already on their way to the venue. Unfortunately I had no idea where the venue was...

I went to follow after them, hoping that my wallet would turn-up but fearing the worst. It appeared that my wallet had been taken from my room while I was at breakfast and there were plenty of random cleaning staff hanging around the corridor when I returned.

Searching for the fencing hall in the Nepstadion, no one had any idea where it was. This huge Olympic complex with maybe 10 or twelve arenas and countless help-desk and no-one could help me. Flustered over my lost wallet and abjectly lost I wandered around phoning people at home about cancelling all my cards.

After walking down a wall that seemed to never end for ten minutes I gave up and decided to check back with the reception in the hotel. They had no idea, but, very helpfully, they rang someone to find out. The endless wall I had been following apparently would have eventually lead me to venue, so I had to walk it again and further.

I eventually arrived at 11am and fencing was already underway. Without my lamé still though I was reliant on borrowing someone else's but I got a fair bit of fencing in. The US, Chinese and Hungarian teams are taking part so it's an incredibly high standard (and then me).

...

When I got back to the hotel it was time to start worrying about my wallet again.

I turned over my room once again. My coat, my bags, the bed, the bathroom - every square in inch of the room combed but nothing. I admitted defeat, the wallet was gone. Finding the number for card cancellations online I began the process of having my cards blocked. Once that was done, I headed downstairs to check with the reception one last time.

They told me once again that no wallet had been found and informed me that they'd send the chamber-maid to my room. What was I supposed to do with that I wondered. Confront her? Shake her upside down and see if my wallet fell out of her pocket?

I returned to my room to wait. Eventually a knock on the door and some sort of head chamber-maid and maid were at the door. Neither of them particularly spoke English. I asked the one in charge whether they might have found it but they replied in Hungarian that they had not. 5 minutes of shaking heads and shrugging later we parted company. Once more I returned to the lobby to find the address of the police station to report my stolen wallet just in case it was found empty. The manager behind the desk, fully aware of what was being indirectly suggested about his hotel was cold at best. He gave me the directions and I went up to my room to get my jacket before getting going.

I returned to my room and picked up my jacket - my wallet fell out of the right-hand side of the jacket immediately. The funny thing about this is that there are no pockets on the right hand side. That knowing my jacket pocket was one of the last places I had my wallet I had checked it repeatedly, moved it about the room as I searched the bed, patted it down completly and checked the pockets and the sleeves repeatedly. Was I going absolutely mad?

Whatever had happened to my wallet I had it back which was the main thing. Unfortunately all my cards were cancelled and this process is irreversable, so I only have the cash I have in my wallet to last me the week.

...

That evening was very quiet compared with the drama of the morning. I collected my brand new shiney lamé from PBT, ate with the US team in the hotel restaurant and watched some Prisonbreak before heading to bed.