Here is some international travel advice from your friendly neighborhood Consular Officer. If you are working overseas and lose your job, but the organization you were working for offers to fly you home to the U.S., you might want to consider taking that flight. What you should not do is put all of the money you possess in the world in a fanny pack and head to another 3rd world nation hoping to find something better. Especially if you have a habit of losing things (like, say, a fanny pack), don't have any credit cards, and have no family/friends who can/will lend you a dozen Benjamins in case of emergency. What happens then is you become a "destitute American" in need of "repatriation." You don't want this to happen to you for many reasons, not the least of which is that you will spend hours, over several days, sitting at the Embassy while some poor Consular Officer calls all of your "friends" on your behalf to beg for money. When they all say no, the unfortunate Consular Officer spends more hours visiting travel offices and budget offices to coordinate a loan for your plane ticket home. Then the beleaguered Consular Officer must have you fill out numerous forms in quadruplicate (that's a word in government) so that you can get a loan and a new one-time use passport...because we're gonna cancel yours until you pay us back.
In all seriousness, there is nothing more important to us than assisting Americans abroad. But please, think before you travel. Don't make your trip (or my job) any more challenging than it needs to be.
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