A story of a lost phone, an honest taxi driver and a beautiful city

I had been in Singapore for five days when I did something I had never done before: I lost my mobile phone. I had gone to Changi Airport to meet my cousin, who had just landed in Singapore for the F1 Grand Prix race. I was excited that we would spend the next eight days exploring the city together—his first visit and my third in three years—not to mention attending my first Grand Prix race for three days.

I LOST MY MOBILE PHONE

Having gone to Changi Airport to meet my Cousin who had just landed in SG for the F1 Grand Prix race, and excited that we were going to spend the next 8 or so days visiting sites in SG ( his first visit and my 3rd in as many years) Not to mention 3 days at my first Grand Prix race.

I met him after he got through Customs struggling with all his baggage or rather mine, as I was traveling for 12 months I had opted to bring a spare set of everything that could be left in SG with friends because it is cheaper than flying back to the UK right? and even with 30kg plus carry on of 7kg, had run out of baggage allowance. So I persuaded him to bring some of my stuff with him.

After all, he was only staying for 8 days, right? So he wouldn’t need that much

Anyway, after getting the bus back as far as the local town centre to where we were staying, we hopped into a waiting taxi and arrived at our apartment.
After paying the taxi driver, we gathered our bags from the boot of the cab and went to the apartment. I thought something was wrong as I watched the tail lights of the cab leave us. I stood for a minute thinking…

“I think I have left my phone in the cab” I told Richard.
You sure? he said
“No, maybe, not sure”

Great start to my 12-month trip

Well, I had, the day before I had snapped the button on my shorts (probably because I was rushing to put them on, not because I had put on any more weight)
So taking a button from the side pocket of my shorts, which I put my phone in, seemed like a sensible thing to do, except that when you sit down, anything in your pocket now falls out.

We managed to get hold of the taxi company’s number, left a message, and waited.
2 days later we rang again, and they said they were still trying to reach the driver, so we were expecting the worst by this point.:(
After 5 days, we found that the driver had got in touch, had remembered where he dropped us off and arranged to pop by that evening to return the phone.

TIP OF THE POST

If taking cabs, always try to get either the name of the driver and or the number plate, losing a phone is one thing, but imagine leaving your wallet with all your cash and credit cards? Or worse your passport.
A good reason why I love using Grab over here, you do everything online and have a contact for the driver as well as the number plate and a way of contacting the company.

September, 2018

I’m not sure if my phone wasn’t stolen because it wasn’t a branded model. I recently purchased a dual-SIM phone, and the cheapest option turned out to be a Blackview, which is made in Hong Kong. While it may not be as impressive as an iPhone, Samsung, or HTC, it’s affordable, has great battery life, and looks decent.

Alternatively, it might have simply fallen down the side of the seat without anyone noticing. However, I’m inclined to believe the latter, as everyone I meet in Singapore—from taxi drivers to servers at hawker centres—is incredibly polite and always willing to help. I find it hard to believe that someone would steal it.

”So thank you Singapore, Singaporeans and in particular to the driver of the cab for being honest and returning my mobile”