Shenzhen Travel Advisory
Where do you spend the night when your passport is stolen, you can’t check into a hotel without a passport, and you don’t have any friends you can stay with?
Sometimes it pays to have friends in the right places, and this is one of them. It’s a good thing I’m a known quantity at a 5 star hotel. But will that be enough to check in if my passport has been stolen?
I am going to need a place to stay for a few nights. That is my first problem. It is complicated by the fact that I can’t check into a hotel without a passport, and my passport has been stolen.
But not only will I need a place to stay. I will also need access to a computer and the Internet. I will need help getting from Shenzhen to Guangzhou. I will need a place at to stay once I get to Guangzhou. I will need someone that can take messages.
There are all kinds of other petty little details that I might also need help with that I don’t know about yet.
Not only that, I will also need something to do for the next few days. The weather is drippingly hot, not suitable for sightseeing, and I can’t just sit around my hotel room watching TV all day.
Five Star Hotel
I come to the conclusion that I need to stay at a hotel that offers more than a bed to sleep in.
I am going to need the logistical support that only a good concierge can offer, and I am going to need some facilities where I can pass the time: a swimming pool, a gym, and a spa would be nice.
All of that points in the same direction: I am going to have to stay at the 5 star hotel.
I remember that I am a known quantity at The Ritz-Carlton, Shenzhen. In my capacity as a travel writer, I have stayed there several times over the years. I did, in fact, win a complimentary one month’s membership at the hotel’s fitness centre and spa, which is still valid.
Perhaps they can let me stay there without seeing my passport because they already know me, and my details are already in the system. Not sure, but it’s worth a try. I catch the subway to Futian, take exit D, and walk into the beautiful lobby.