Nicky Styris has shared a horror travel story she experienced in the US recently, turning up at the airport for her flight back home to New Zealand and realising she had left her and her daughter's passports over an hour's drive away.
The Newshub sports presenter also shared a sneaky shoe trick that should mean she'll never suffer the same misfortune again.
"We were staying in a place called Costa Mesa, which is about an hour out of LAX, and we're on the final day when we have to travel to the airport," Styris told AM host Ryan Bridge on Tuesday morning.
"We packed everything up, went and had lunch, drove an hour to the airport shuttle, dropped off the rental car, then I was sitting in the airport shuttle and I went, 'Oh, bugger'.
"I'm not sure 'bugger' was the word I used. But I had left the passports in the safe in the hotel."
Styris said the realisation made her feel "physically ill".
However, while she sat there "like a stunned mullet", her 17-year-old daughter sprung into action.
"She got straight onto her phone. First of all she rang the hotel and instructed them to get up to the room immediately and get [the passports out of the safe]. Then she rang this dodgy cab company… and got this guy called Alfredo," Styris said.
"She said 'Alfredo, you need to go to this hotel, get our passports and bring them to LAX. You need to open up WhatsApp and send me photos' and all this.
"I was just like, 'This is amazing!' Alfredo did it, it cost me $160 but he went and picked them up, brought them to the airport, he was there within an hour and we were on our flight home."
Bridge praised the teen for her quick-thinking that saved the day - as well as Alfredo the cab driver.
Styris then shared the trick she discovered to make sure she never makes the same mistake again.
"Next time, I'm going to put a shoe in the safe so that when I go to leave, I've got one shoe. Then I'll know to go to the safe and get the other shoe out and there will be the passport!"
Watch the video above.
