I had a great December traveling around the world and seeing old friends. However, I made some financial blunders that have left me wondering if I’m really ready to be out in the wild on my own.

The first mistake I made was to have the majority of my money kept in a bank account that I have no plastic to access. I have an ISA (savings) and a current account with Natwest. Every now and then I transfer little bits of money to my Nationwide account, for which I have credit, debit and ATM cards. The money in my Nationwide account trickled out and I decided to rely on my overdraft for a couple of weeks as I would soon be in Thailand, where I have another account.

Little did I know that those sneaky devils at Nationwide had reduced my overdraft to only 200 pounds. My gran may have known, because she gets all my mail, but I was unaware. So it came to my last days in Timor and we needed to buy a washing machine, which inadvertently cleared me out.

On my final day in the country I went to take out some money, but it was no good. I then flew to Bali and was able to take out just enough for cabs and the airport departure tax. The first lesson I learned was not to horde my money in an account I can’t access.

I then arrived in Bangkok, where I was expecting to collect a Bangkok Bank ATM card that had been posted from Phuket to a friend in the big city. The said friend had gone on holiday to England and left another friend in charge of the card, only that friend had been too busy with work to collect it.

I waited for the card until almost the end of my trip, only then pouncing on the idea to go and get a new one from the bank. In the mean time, I had been taking out money with my credit card, for which I was charged three pounds every time. The second lesson I learned was not to rely on people where plastic is concerned and also not to use my credit card in ATM machines.

After wiring most of my Thai savings to my Natwest account, I ended up with more than two thousands pounds in cash, which I promptly paid into my Nationwide account after touching down in London. That night, I got drunk in Sheffield and lost my wallet, which contained my new Thai credit and ATM card, as well as my Nationwide cards. I cancelled the cards and withdrew a lump sum of cash as I had to be in France in a couple of days. The lesson I learned here was not to take my cards with me when I go to party.

So there I was, cardless in France with a few hundred pounds to keep me going until my new plastic was delivered to my gran, who would then have to find a way to get them to me. On a side note, the pound is almost one for one with the euro, which is unsettling.

The first night I was in France, I received an SMS telling me that my wallet hand been found under a friend’s bed. Curses, I thought. Being in France for only a week, I had to come up with a way for my gran to get me my cards.

I have just arrived in Timor after a few days in Bali. By some stroke of luck, my 90-year-old grandmother was able to figure out how to DHL my cards to Timor, where they will arrive on Thursday. Timor doesn’t have much of a postal service, so this was the only way I could be certain of receiving my cards, the privilege of which cost 70 pounds.

Twenty-six years on this planet should have left me with more common sense, especially when traveling, but alas, I still have a long way to go. Hopefully this story will inspire travelers to not be a stupid as I was.