As some of you may know, I have been in Athens for the last week for a conference followed by some sightseeing. I am traveling alone, but was having a great time UNTIL tonight (Saturday), when my purse got snatched. It contained my passport and my entire wallet (and also my camera). I think since it was my last day here I had gotten careless. Don't ask me why I was walking around with my passport and all my cards and cash in my purse - I usually keep my US cash or a backup card somewhere else. Argh. I am SUCH AN IDIOT. At least they did not get my ipad (because I was distracted with using it when I lost the bag) or computer (in my hotel room).

Anyway, what this means is (after much crying and frustrating negotiating of the inefficient greek police system) that I am stuck here until at least Wednesday, because I cannot fly without a passport (I DO have a copy of it in my luggage but the airport won't accept it) and I can't get a new one until the embassy is open, which is Tuesday. The worst time ever to lose a passport is apparently saturday before a monday holiday. Gah. So have changed plane tickets to Wednesday, and booked the hotel until then (and had to have J. call them and pay for it over the phone). Hopefully there is no snag with the passport replacement.

Another issue is the fact that I literally have 10 cents to my name right now. Replacement cards cannot get here until wednesday, when I am (hopefully) leaving. Lady from the embassy emergency line said to have J Western Union some cash to me. However, WU will not release it without showing ID, which of course I do not have. We did eventually manage to work something out (well, J did while I was crying) with the nice concierge from the hotel, who is going to accept the money transfer. I have a feeling this happens more often than people here would like to admit since he is clearly familiar with the process, whereas neither J nor I have ever used western union in our lives. Hopefully it works and I get some money tomorrow.

So... any words of wisdom for me? Anyone gone through this process before? I am super frustrated although slowly starting to feel like I'm getting a handle on things here. Or just sympathy - could use some of that right now, as I feel really alone and I really do not want to stay here for three more days while I have no money or ID.

Also, I was wearing my (Rx) sunglasses when I lost the purse, which contained my regular specs. So now I am relegated to wearing sunglasses all the time, which is not only creepy looking but also giving me a headache.

Blah. Worst vacation ever. Which sucks because I really felt all the dire warnings about greece and the unrest here were quite overblown.