A Corner Brook man who lost his wallet on a bus in Scotland had it returned to him, thanks to luck and the help of strangers.

Ryan David Butt had taken a break from his studies in England to hike in the Highlands and was met with an unpleasant surprise.

The fourth-year fine arts student had bused back to his hostel when he noticed he was missing his wallet — cards, cash and all.

"I looked everywhere ... tore apart the room, tore everything apart in that room and could not find it for the life of me," Butt said.

After a long search, he called his sister to cancel his cards and arrange to wire him some money to get back to Canada. Since Butt needed to catch a bus to another town to receive the money, his hostel roommate and a couple of near-strangers lent him cash for bus fare and food.

Before leaving Scotland, Butt dropped by the Citylink bus station and spoke to employee Stacey Robertson. Robertson made some calls to track it down but couldn’t find anything immediately.

When Butt was on his way back to London, Robertson called him with the good news: the wallet had been found.

She put it in the mail and Butt received it with the cards — and £100 (about $150 Canadian) — still inside.

“I thought I was doing this trip alone, but I wasn’t. I had new friends and family to take care of me,” Butt said.