Losing your passport in a foreign country is always a huge hassle, and this proved especially true for American surfer Dane Reynolds who was held for two days at Lisbon Airport after he lost his.
According to an Instagram post from his personal cameraman Jason “Mini” Blanchard, it was not a pleasant experience.
“Dane Reynolds is currently being held captive and treated like a criminal at the Lisbon, Portugal International Airport Jail. Yes, jail! All because he lost his passport! He’s been there for two days now. They took his phone, backpack, even his shoelaces WTF! And to top it off, the US Embassy is doing very little to help him,” Blanchard wrote yesterday (February 22).
Reynolds, a Hall of Fame surfer, arrived in Lisbon from Gatwick on Monday but was detained by Portuguese border authorities (SEF) when they discovered he was missing his passport.
He was only released yesterday after the US Embassy helped prove Reynolds was who he claimed to be.
While many took to social media to criticise the way he was treated, one Instagram commenter put the issue into perspective.
“I understand you might feel frustrated but I urge you to see the situation from another perspective. Non-EU people cannot travel within airports without a passport, that is the law, and the Portuguese security team is following it and they don’t seem to be abusing their authority.”
In fact, the 31-year-old told Surfer magazine that his experience was “minor” compared to those currently facing immigration issues.
“I feel way worse for the other guys I was in there with – just a lot of people trying to get out of their sh*tty situations in other countries.”
Surfer says the detention happened when the magazine and the world-famous surfer were “in route to Portugal for a forthcoming profile of Reynolds”.
