Losing Luggage - 5 Tips

You wait… you wait… you wait some more. The carosoul spins and next think you notice is that everyone is gone and you luggage is still nowhere to be shown. At this point you know now, your luggage is gone.

So on my return from Colombia via Lima Peru, over 100 passengers where in the same situation as I was. We were all missing our luggage. What had happened is that the flight was overweight and could not put all luggage on the plane due to safety reasons. So what do you do other than let frustration and anger kick in? “Half of my life is in that bag…” is something I heard from my incident recently.

This is not the first time that luggage has not arrived at the same time and place as I have. From my past experience here are some tips of what I have learned:

Pack light
Packing light means you have less luggage to worry about when it does get lost. It also reduced the chance for it getting lost. If you have less, luggage you have less of a chance of losing it. You may also run into a situation like me, where a lot of luggage can way down the plane causing the luggage to arrive separately from yourself.
Keep your cool
This is obvious yet hard to do. Deadlines need to be hit, perhaps you need to get to another flight/bus/train. Maybe you are like the man behind me who had film that needed to be delivered for editing. Either way tensions will rise. Times like this it is best try to stay as calm as possible. I found it hard myself when someone cut in front of me and 50 others to try and stay calm, but it is important to stay calm because getting angry will not get your luggage to you any faster. Not only that it will slow down the whole process. Just let things get done so that you can get on to your trip.
Buy locally.
It is always good to try to blend with the locals when traveling. The one good thing about losing luggage is that it gives you a chance to purchase clothing locally at the area you are visiting. This was a great option for me when I first travelled to India and my luggage was gone. I was lucky to have a change of clothes in my carry on backpack but all my other clothing was gone for a week at least. So I bought clothing from India, wearing Indian pants, Indian shirts, and Indian socks and undies. It was nice to dress like some one from India. Was a different experience. Of course this option is not for everyone, especially if you are on a tight budget, but at least it is an option.
Pack Important Items in Carry On
The worst thing to do is have something you absolutely need gone. Especially when traveling. Never pack you items importance in a check in bag. Take those things with you on a Carry on. For example, I always bring a camera bag/backpack as a carry on item. It allows me to have my camera when ever i travel and not worry about not having it when worrying less about my luggage. None of my itineraries ever go in my check in, as I learned the hard way about that. I have also made sure i packed an extra pair of pants, shirt, socks and undies in a carry on to make sure that if I do lose my luggage I can feel clean still after a 16 hour flight (not all my flights are 16 hours).
Forget about it
You are on vacation. Enjoy your vacation. What good is worrying about your luggage going to do but make for your relax time to be no longer relaxing. Or even if you are traveling for work, forget about it still. If you are busy thinkng about your luggage then how can you perform your work half minded?

So when being faced with a luggage situation, think about these things. How many of you have lost luggage. Were there 100 people with you at the time? Perhaps you have a stranger story then me. Would love to hear about it.

Image taken by NotoriousJEN on Flickr

Erick Redcloud

A partially blind Graphic Designer, Freelance Travel Photographer, Artist, Buddhist and Vegetarian who loves to travel. Erick loves traveling by being with the locals and going off the beaten path. He is the founder and owner of Pathlesstravels and loves inspiring others to follow their dreams, whether it is to travel or something completely different. He started Pathlesstravels to hone is photography skills and to meet amazing people, and to help a friend break into journalism. Check out his photography at his link.