Sir, - My first visit to Ireland this summer was the culmination of a life-long dream. However, as an avid photographer, that dream was in jeopardy of serious tarnishing when we arrived at our hotel in Dublin, and discovered that my camera bag with all my equipment was not in the taxi with us.
Suddenly I felt unsafe. Could our taxi-driver, or any of the people we dealt with in the airport, all of whom seemed so friendly and so accommodating, have in reality ripped us off? That suspicion and discomfort threatened to mar the trip for me as much as the loss of my camera.
I phoned the airport police to see if the bag had been turned in and left my name and hotel. That afternoon, I received a phone call from Inspector Evans Dexter of the airport police, who questioned me in detail regarding the time of our arrival and our appearance.
Inspector Dexter spent hours reviewing the surveillance film of the taxi stand until he found us on the film. He told me that, according to the film, when my husband and I and our taxi-driver loaded the taxi, the camera bag was inadvertently left behind in the luggage cart. It was picked up, innocently, by the driver of the next taxi in line, in the mistaken belief that it belonged to his passenger.
The inspector ascertained the identity of the driver of the second taxi from his licence plate in the film and contacted him. Over the course of several conversations, the driver, who at first denied any knowledge of my camera, managed to recover it and return it to Inspector Dexter's office in the airport. Less than 48 hours after I arrived in Dublin, my camera bag was returned to me exactly as it had been when I left it in the luggage cart two days before.
I cannot thank Insp Dexter enough for his concern and diligence. It is a testament to the police department, to the city of Dublin, and to Ireland itself that a careless tourist should be so well cared for. It was the first and most extraordinary part of a wonderful vacation. We are both looking forward to coming back to Ireland - and I have some pretty terrific pictures of Sligo, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, etc., etc. - Yours, etc.,
Enid W. Langbert, Lincoln Plaza, New York, USA.