Blog du Wren

Losing a Phone In Puerto Vallarta

You know that sinking feeling when you reach for your phone in your pocket and it's not there? Imagine that feeling, but while being in a foreign country where you rely on said phone for not getting lost, figuring out what it is you're eating, and getting access to your plane tickets. Not to be overdramatic, but it can be a bit of a heart stopper. It was exactly this feeling I had yesterday as Della and I hustled off the crowded public bus in Puerto Vallarta on our way to see a two-bit (but still very enjoyable) Mexican circus*.

"Maybe I left it in the room..." [Nervous two hours of trying to ignore possibility of phone loss, search room top to bottom, ask hotel staff where bus lost and found is, enjoy staff's laughter at this concept, lose hope]

"Didn't I hear a podcast about an online way that can help you track where your phone is?" [Google "find my phone", log in, see blinking red dot a map nearby(!), hustle out on the street, get lost finding intersection, find intersection, don't find phone, return to hotel]

"Oh hey, the blinking dot moved!" [Internet sleuth everything possible about new blinking dot location, grow disheartened by very rural location, enlist friends' help to call phone, remotely lock down phone and prepare my goodbyes, search for phone replacement costs]

"The dot moved again!!" [Put on Sherlock hat, start spreadsheet of GPS coords with time of observation, frantically refresh website until bedtime, sleep fitfully]

"I think the phone is still on the bus!!" [Continue to track route, convert spreadsheet of GPS coords into map, develop a plan to find this bus out of the 100s of public Puerto Vallarta buses.]

"The buses seem to be laying over in this abandoned field. We should go there and search every bus we find!" [Jump through hoops to get internet on Della's phone, hop a bus that looks like it's going that direction, hop off bus once it diverts, see intermittently updated blinking dot pass us, furiously speculate, hop on new bus, bounce our way to the "station"]

"Yesterday he/she/it lose thing phone in bus please us look for"* [Start searching buses, try to connect via Della's phone to make it ring, no ringing, see dancing Della with phone in her hand, jump for joy, many self congratuations]

With a successful completion of the mission, we felt like badasses. From the get go, we felt like our chances were slim. But for a few pesos for bus fare and international data charges and a bit of ingenuity and persistance, we triumphed. In fact, it was a better adventure than the overpriced omni-present snorkeling excursions the resort keeps trying to pitch us. Adventure, badassery, frugality: that's the way we roll!

Thursday March 7 2019

File under: travel, mexico

Toggle Comments (3)

comment?

on Thu 07th Mar, 2019 01:34 am EST Mom said:
OMG I was on the edge of my seat until I realized that you must have found it or I wouldn’t be reading this tale. Whew!!
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on Sun 10th Mar, 2019 09:37 pm EDT rus said:
well ill be damned
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on Thu 14th Mar, 2019 05:14 pm EDT Horge said:
¿Donde está la tarta de hoy? Aunque estaís en vacaciones no sería un razon bastante fuerte para no hacer una empanada por el catorce de marzo... ¿Porque no estás/eres listo?
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