Many of us know that the more you travel, the more likely it is that you will come across some travel hiccups along the way. Lost luggage, delayed (or even worse, cancelled) flights, the screaming baby on the red-eye flight, the child behind you constantly kicking your seat, sore muscles and body aches from sitting in a tiny chair for a long period of time, the list goes on and on and on…
I’m one who tries to look at the bright-side in all situations that I encounter. If you don’t have a smile and a positive attitude, it’s not going to help anyone. This week, however, we are going to have a little fun: I will be discussing some of my worst traveling experiences and some of the worst traveling sins–and I hope you will join in the fun as well!
When the husband and I flew to Indianapolis a few years back we encountered a lost luggage scenario. Because it was going to be a quick trip, my husband and I checked only one bag for the weekend. When we arrived at the Indianapolis airport to claim our luggage, our bag was nowhere to be found. It’s common to wait forrrrrever for your luggage, however, only after everyone who had been on our flight was out of the airport and on their way to their hotels, did we realize that our bag wasn’t coming out of that luggage carousel. (Okay maybe that’s a slight exaggeration–it wasn’t quite that long, but it felt like it). Thoughts of last-minute shopping trips and wondering what had happened to our bag immediately flooded my mind: This trip just got A LOT more expensive.
We made our way to the Southwest customer service desk where they began taking our claim. As I spoke with the representative, my husband decided to walk around the baggage area one last time. It was during this time that another Southwest employee approached him and informed my husband that the bag was not actually lost, it was damaged, but it was within the luggage area. Southwest promptly replaced our bag with another like-quality bag and we were on our way.
That story is nowhere near as bad as the travel horror story of my parents: They were having a destination wedding in Nassau, Bahama and their bags were misplaced when they arrived on the island. All of their clothing (including the wedding dress) were lost and they were getting married the next day. After almost a full day of panicking, tears, anger, frustration, despair, and searching the entire airport high and low, they found their luggage and made it in time to their wedding.
What about you? Has your luggage ever been lost? What’s your worst traveling experience?
Stay tuned, we will be discussing one of the worst traveling sins of all later this week. 🙂
Pictures and Plane Tickets 
The worst travel experience by fat has been when I flew to Israel alone on El Al airlines. I was searched and questioned in a little room for an hour and every thing but my wallet and passport were taken from me. I finally got on my flight just add it was boarding, but I had to be quickly escorted because of how long it took. I seriously wanted to cry.
When I landed I got my, stuff back. And I had a great trip despite the beginning of it.
That has got to be the worst story of the series. I am so sorry that this happened to you. I can’t even imagine how terrifying that would be. Kudos for continuing to travel after this experience!! I’m glad you made your flight and I hope that the rest of the trip was a blast! I would take lost luggage any day over being interrogated and almost missing my flight. 😦
Wow, how stressful! They haven’t lost my luggage (yet! fingers crossed it stays that way), but one time the airline managed to book my connecting flight for the previous day. That was pretty fun to deal with, as none of the airport staff spoke much English.
Hope the rest of your trip went better!
How in the world would an airline book a connecting flight for the previous day. Major FAIL! That would be so stressful not speaking or understanding the language either. Our trip turned out great, and I hope yours did too! 🙂
Two cruises ago we left from San Juan, Puerto Rico – we flew in the day before the cruise departed. My husband’s suitcase arrived just fine, but we waited and waited for mine to appear on the carousel – it was most definitely missing.
That was one of the most stressful travel days I’ve experienced….knowing we were setting sail the next day, where to start with tracking the suitcase down, do we need to jump in a cab and head to the mall so I can buy clothes, toiletries – everything – for the next week, how long do we wait around the hotel, etc, etc. It definitely put a damper on the first night of our vacation, in San Juan, no less. We were far too preoccupied to enjoy ourselves.
My husband was in contact with American Airlines right away – he called their 800 number and was able to track the bag on our laptop. He could see when it arrived in Miami, and which flight it was on to San Juan.
The following morning, my suitcase arrived to the hotel via AA shuttle, completely intact. Ahhhhh, we could BREATHE again – I’ve never hugged a suitcase so tightly! 😉 We boarded the ship before noon as planned, and off we sailed to the southern Caribbean.
But, gah – what a fire drill!
Thanks for sharing. That is one of the many reasons why flying in the day before a cruise is helpful! Can you imagine if you would have flown in the day of departure… I’m so glad that your luggage made it in time. Not a good way to start out a vacation, but at least you worked out all the kinks in the beginning. I hope the rest of your trip was smooth sailing (pun intended) 😉
That is why we do carry on only now. We are challenging ourselves for a 10 day trip to Italy next month with carry on. I think the key is washing machines in the apts we are renting!
That is a great idea. I can’t wait to hear how your challenge goes! Good luck! 🙂
I did this one on my blog. But mine is more on transportation than airport or location.
I had one airline nightmare. Drum please. Delayed flight in Japan. We had to exit the airport and they had us stay at a hotel, which is not bad. The bad part is the fact that with delayed flights, vacation times lost, other connecting flights delayed, we were impatiently waiting for the airlines to offer our meals to eat, etc. With those chained reaction, you can imagine the frustration of all the passengers.
That would be extremely frustrating. The waiting and lost vacation time would be bad enough, but then the headache of finding new connecting flights for each connection, that would be maddening. I’m glad you made it out alive 🙂
We travel often but have only lost (knock wood) our luggage once and that was on the return trip home so no big deal..plus the airline had it to us the next day… however, when we cruised to Hawaii the trek from San Diego meant 5 days at sea. There were a number of folks who (for some reason) never got their luggage onto the ship. When we arrived at the first port in Hawaii 5 days later..there was their luggage waiting… 5 days at sea with no luggage….
Five days at sea… I can’t even imagine.That would not be good… I hope the cruiseship adequately compensated those travelers.