A United Boeing 777 – Photo: Al@fh | Flickr CC

It finally happened  – one of my greatest traveling fears – I lost my wallet in a foreign country.

Maybe it was the sleep deprivation after more than 20 hours en route, maybe it was the chaos of wrestling with my squirmy 15-month-old, or maybe I’m just that absentminded, but I somehow managed to leave my wallet on the plane after a 14-hour flight from Washington Dulles to Beijing.

I realized it when we were at the baggage claim – far too late to turn around and go back to the gate.   Before we left the airport, I contacted United’s baggage services, which had someone check around my seat on the plane for the wallet, without success.  I also filed a claim with the airport’s lost and found.  But I left the airport that day thinking it was gone forever. What a pain.