The Errant Suitcase

I thought I might share a tad of a touch of what I experience from the travel part of my travels. Perhaps it will lighten someone's sense of what a bad day might actually be.

My day today was spent alternating between running between buildings at work and making phone calls to track down my wayward luggage. You see, yesterday I flew non-stop from San Francisco to Baltimore. My luggage, however, went to Chicago and seemed to have taken up residency there. United Airlines originally thought it had hitched a ride on a plane Wednesday morning. Not so. Later in the day, United was certain that it had stowed away on some plane headed East and would be knocking on my door some time. Date, time, and other specifics were not available.

My bag finally showed up this evening. I have no idea where it spent its time as a stowaway and how it was directed homeward. Perhaps that is one of those things one does not want to know.

Once American Airlines lost my bag, and a janitor at the airport found it and called me, using the 800# for Stuffbak. I use Stuffbak labels, which mean I usually do get my stuff back. Except for the time that luggage going to Moscow through Helsinki disappeared into Finnair forever.

Too frequently, though, my luggage takes trips separately from me. I arrived recently in Dubai, running to catch a plane, while my luggage spent a leisurely overnight in Washington. Similarly, once, in returning from Prague, my luggage and I parted company in Frankfurt, with me coming home to Monterey while my luggage took an excursion to Moscow, perhaps a matter of habit since I was spending a lot of time in Moscow in those days.

In essence, my luggage just seems to have a life of its own, too often apart from me. My sister asks a good question: "Can you get frequent flyer miles for your luggage since it takes extra trips all by itself?" Dunno. Maybe I should ask!

Years ago when I was traveling more than now (yes, that is possible), I simply maintained a spare wardrobe in the closets of friends around the world in those cities to which I flew most often. Those clothes, which would have been available here in Baltimore in an early era, unfortunately were not available today because they have since all moved home.

In any event, the errant suitcase has found its way to my hotel room. It was a joyful reunion!

Double-posted on 100th Lamb and Clan of Mahlou.