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"How I Lost My Backpack with Passports and Laptop" — Essay [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-07-16

After getting blackout drunk at a London party, the author wakes up in a random building to discover he's lost his backpack containing his laptop, two passports, and various personal items. Instead of panicking, he treats the situation like "a new level in a game called life."

He recounts his search efforts while examining his relationship with alcohol, anxiety, and control. "I hadn't lost everything," he writes, "just my backpack with passports and laptop — so I became only a little freer."

The story takes a turn when a stranger finds the bag, leading to a resolution that says as much about trust in society as it does about the author himself.

Previously:

• My life on the road: A lost passport, no ID, and bullshit paperwork trying to get back to Canada

• Passports, ranked by country

• U.S. Government demands new internal passport for citizens and it's giving off major dystopian vibes

[END]
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