Maddi Healey
Maddi Healey'S IG Post Instagram/maddi.healey

What started as a dream holiday quickly spiralled into a nightmare for one young Australian traveller. In early May 2025, 20-year-old Maddi Healey found herself stuck for 18 hours at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in China after discovering her passport had gone missing on the flight from Sydney.

Healey had planned to kick off her trip by visiting the Great Wall of China with a close friend. Instead, she never made it past the airport's immigration desk. A frantic search through her bag and even her friend's, turned up nothing. Her passport had vanished, and with it, any hope of beginning the holiday she'd spent years dreaming about.

'I Was in Complete Despair'

'I turned my bag inside out,' Maddi later told Yahoo News. 'It just wasn't there.' She even noticed a tear in her backpack that hadn't been there when she left Australia. 'Something didn't feel right.'

By the time the reality of the situation set in, she was faced with a difficult choice: stay behind and try to resolve things or let her friend go ahead without her. They said their goodbyes. Maddi was alone, exhausted, and stuck in a foreign airport without internet, power, or answers.

Nowhere to Go, No One to Help

Because Maddi had never officially cleared Chinese immigration, she was in a legal limbo. The Australian embassy couldn't intervene directly, and airport staff offered little clarity. 'I had no idea what was going to happen to me,' she said. 'It was terrifying.'

Seven hours in, a kind man working at the international desk noticed her distress and sat with her. He helped her book a one-way flight back to Sydney, costing her $660 (£515). 'If it wasn't for him, I'm not sure how I would've gotten home,' she said. 'I was filled with fear and frustration.'

@_maddikate

You always think, “that’ll never happen to me.” But this time… it was me. Losing my passport felt like a nightmare — but what followed was worse than I ever could’ve imagined. Within 15 minutes of getting off the plane, I reported it missing and begged staff to check my seat. We were ignored, yelled at, and left in the dark. No urgency. No empathy. I was treated like a criminal. Like I was lying. Like I didn’t matter. I sat between customs and my gate for 17 hours, completely alone, scared, alienated, and with no clear English communication. I hadn’t officially “entered” the country, so even my embassy couldn’t help me. I wasn’t allowed to access food, and when I begged, I was told to sit down and be quiet. They tried to make me pay $4,600 for a flight home😳. I had no idea what to do. The only light in this experience was a kind airport worker who gave me soup from his own lunch and let me borrow his phone charger so I could contact my family🥹. Without him, I don’t know what I would’ve done. Right before boarding my flight back, I spoke to a couple who told me that everyone in the airport had been talking about me — I didn’t know, because I couldn’t understand the language. This experience felt like something out of a movie. Dehumanising, surreal, terrifying. It’s sad that we as humans can’t hold so much faith in humanity. But we can be kind and try to understand. Please take care when you travel. This can happen to anyone — even you. #guangzhou #deported #china #LostPassport #travelnightmare #travelfail

♬ original sound - Maddi | 🎓🛍️💸✨

A Lesson No Traveller Forgets

Maddi is now urging others to learn from her mistake. 'Keep your passport strapped to you at all times,' she warned. 'Don't assume everyone has the same level of respect for your belongings. Photograph everything. Save backups on your phone.'

Though safely back in Australia, she's still shaken by the experience and the trip that never was. 'I was extremely disheartened. I'd waited for this trip for years.'

Consular Help Isn't Always an Option

Her story also raises questions about what happens when travellers lose essential documents before officially entering a country. Because Maddi never passed through customs, the Australian consulate could offer only limited assistance.

'Being unable to be helped by the embassy due to a matter of metres is really hard,' she said. 'I hope no one else has to experience that.'

A Growing Issue for Aussie Travellers

Maddi's ordeal isn't unique. According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), passport theft and loss are on the rise. Between 2023 and 2024, nearly 2,000 Australian passports were reported stolen, a 28% increase on the previous year.

In that same period, DFAT responded to more than 9,000 consular assistance cases globally. China alone accounted for 309 of them.

A Trip Cut Short, But a Warning That Might Help Others

Maddi never got to climb the Great Wall. She didn't visit the landmarks she'd circled in her travel guide, or make the memories she'd planned for months. But she did bring home a message others may be grateful for.

'Things can change so fast,' she said. 'You think you're prepared, and suddenly everything's out of your control.'

Her story has since been shared widely among Australian travellers online, not as a scare story, but as a wake-up call. Travel is meant to be liberating, but without that tiny book in your hand, it can quickly become anything but.