If you thought forgetting your toothbrush was bad, try explaining to Immigration that your passport is doing laps in an Uber somewhere between Bondi and the airport. According to Uber’s 2025 Lost & Found Index, 54 Aussies managed to part ways with their passports in a rideshare this year.
But passports were just the beginning. When it comes to leaving holiday essentials (and non-essentials) behind, Aussie travellers have range. We’re talking poultry, prosthetics, and a lot of phones. Because why pack light when you can lose heavy?
Why pack light when you can lose heavy?
In the last 12 months, Australians left behind:
- 2,273 bags, backpacks and suitcases
- 1,116 headphones or speakers
- 5,485 Android phones and 3,019 iPhones
- 150 phone chargers (naturally, when you need them most)
- 187 books (holiday reads gone rogue)
- 11 thongs, some in pairs, some flying solo.
And that’s not counting the stuff that really makes you question humanity’s packing priorities.
The carry-on chaos hits new highs
Each year, Uber curates a ‘greatest hits’ of the most jaw-dropping items left behind. This year’s collection reads more like baggage from a reality TV jungle challenge:
- A cooked chicken
- A mini Steve Irwin toy
- $500 worth of live exotic fish
- Bottom dentures
- A CPAP machine
- $1,200 worth of meat raffle winnings
- A clown nose
- Hair extensions
- A portable massage table
- A vibrator
- A lightsaber
- A jar of bee pollen
- Christmas lights with $1,500 cash inside
Other honourable mentions: a Kung Fu belt, a love letter, police documents, a green gremlin toy, and a suspicious number of belts.
Somewhere out there is an Uber driver with the world’s weirdest lost property box.
When Aussies forget the most
Apparently, we’re most forgetful at 8am, 7am and 2am—so either rushing to an early flight or stumbling home from a big one. Saturdays take gold for national forgetfulness, followed by Fridays and Sundays.
Most forgetful cities?
- Sydney (again)
- Melbourne (begrudgingly second)
- Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide round out the top five.
And what goes AWOL when:
- Mondays: hats
- Tuesdays/Fridays: jackets
- Wednesdays: iPads
- Thursdays: AirPods
- Weekends: phones. Many, many phones.
How to reunite with your runaway items
Left your passport, poultry or power tools behind? Uber makes it (relatively) painless:
- Open the Uber app and tap “Activity”.
- Select the relevant trip.
- Tap “Find lost item” > “Contact driver about a lost item”.
- Enter your phone number to call the driver.
- If they answer, tee up a reunion. If not, leave a detailed voicemail.
- Be nice—nobody signs up to be a part-time crab courier.
Lost your phone too? Head to help.uber.com to start the process.
Heads up for travel professionals
If your clients are Ubering to the airport with a bag in one hand and a coffee in the other, odds are something’s getting left behind. Adding a ‘back seat sweep’ reminder to your client comms could mean the difference between take-off and a panic passport reissue.
Travel agents might also consider prepping clients for what to do if things go missing—because cooked chooks may come and go, but passports are pricey to replace.
KARRYON UNPACKS: This year’s Index proves one thing: Aussie travellers will pack anything—and forget everything. For travel professionals, it’s a timely nudge to help clients avoid a pre-departure panic. From early-morning airport dashes to late-night transfers, a quick back-seat scan could be the difference between a seamless itinerary and a last-minute passport scramble.
