A New Englander’s Vacation Nightmare: The Wild Story of Losing My Phone in Italy

Have you ever lost your phone?  If you have, then you know it is a pain to not only replace the phone, but re-enter passwords and generally set it up like the old one.

Here's the thing.   According to ConsumerAffairs.com, 97% of Americans own cell phones, which means there are millions and millions of cell phones in the U.S alone.

What are the chances you'll lose your phone?  As daunting as this sounds, an average of 113 people lose their cell phones every minute of every day in America, according to TeachersCollegesj.com.

After a recent trip to Italy, I lost my iPhone somewhere on the old cobble streets of a quaint and small medieval town just south of Rome.  It seemed like it wouldn't be a problem, as I activated "find my phone" on a friend's mobile device.

The problem was, I didn't know my Apple ID password.  Therefore, I was locked out of my Apple ID after too many attempts.   Did you know it can take up to seven days to get a code to unlock and reset your ID and password?  Neither did I.

So, I called my cell phone carrier to help, but the most they could do was lock my phone.  I didn't invest in any type of insurance, so I had to buy a new phone. However, there was no guarantee my carrier could activate a new phone while I was in Europe.  It seems the four-digit code (which I knew was my code) was not correct.

At this point, I felt like the world was against me, and realized I would be on vacation in Italy for two weeks with no phone.  Then it dawned on me.  Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.  My friends had phones. They took thousands of photos, and I was able to text or call my family sporadically.

There's something about being present that's actually refreshing.

The moral of the story? Know your phone passwords.  Apple has great two-step authentication security measures, which actually protect us.  Oh, and I now have Apple Care, because I never want to be in that "lost my cell phone" hell again.  Ever.