I was traveling for work, going to a 4 day conference. I have a history of forgetting things so I made a list: professional clothes, check, toiletries, check, meds and pajamas and undergarments, check check check. I also had my laptop and my wallet in a shoulder bag. I drive myself to the airport, park in the long-term garage, open the trunk to get my suitcase and … I had forgotten the entire, impeccably packed suitcase.
No time to go home and get it and still make my flight, and I had my ID and conference paper so I just got on the plane and went with it. Once I got to my destination, which was on a university campus with no obvious access to shopping, I went to the campus merchandise store and bought underwear and a couple t shirts, all with the university logo. I apologized profusely to the conference organizers for looking like a weird freshman parent — and had my boyfriend overnight me the meds. Everything went absolutely fine. I wear the shirts now, people ask me if I went to University of Michigan, I say yes ..for four days.
TL,DR TIFU by remembering to pack everything for a business trip but then forgetting my entire suitcase.
Comments
Thanks, I really needed to read this four days before I go on a business trip. 😛
Damn. On our last family road trip the plan was to pack the car, pick up the baby from daycare, pick my husband up from work because it was on the way, and drive a couple hours for a little getaway. I packed everything up (which was A LOT) and I knew I had the important stuff like the pack-n-play, bottles, etc etc. As I was leaving I thought to myself, whatever I forgot I can overnight from Amazon & it won’t be a big deal, she has food and a place to sleep. Drive to daycare, walk in to pick up the baby. Aaaaaand I forgot the car seat. Literally the ONLY item I physically could not go anywhere without. Set us back like an hour to drive home and back, which means my husband had to wait around at work. Not the end of the world but frustrating for sure.
We usually leave her car seat at daycare but when I dropped her off that morning I thought “I know for a fact I’m the one picking her up today so I might as well leave it in my car.” Well, I did leave it in my car. Forgetting that I was taking my husband’s car on the trip because it’s bigger.
Hey you probably fit in more than you thought you did! Glad you got the medicine 💊 figured out. Clearer heads prevail and you did just that.
I once forgot underwear. Another time, I was so tired when I packed, I somehow packed all the clothes I DIDNT want to take. There I was, in BVI, in a pair of khakis and a sweater vest. 😭 I still had a blast.
I have done this. Luckily there was a target near my destination. I bet you’ll never do it again!
That right there is one of my biggest fears. I’m glad you survived! I would have had a heart attack!!!
Many years ago, I flew to Philadelphia in February. From Atlanta. Where it can be much warmer in February, and I got into my comfortable car in my comfortable garage and drove to the comfortable airport where I got on the comfortable plane.
And then I deplaned. In a thin shirt and light sweater. In quite a lot of snow. I hadn’t brought a coat!
Got into a taxi (pre-uber days) and had them take me to a mall…well, a strip mall, where I shivered myself into a Burlington Coat Factory, and eventually came out much warmer than when I’d gone in.
So now I own what is known as The Philly Rescue Coat. And it’s so warm that I literally have worn it in Atlanta like, once, in all these years. 😜
This is such a great reminder not just to me but for everyone that sometimes we just have to roll with it, it is the flexibility that probably made the trip more memorable than stressful. I had a similar moment once, I flew across the country for a wedding and realized I left my dress shoes at home. You know what happened? I ended up wearing sneakers with a suit. Not ideal, but people remembered it but ofc in a good way. 😅
My best friend and I missed a business trip because I backed into the trash can and created a huge mess. We got 20 minutes up the road for her to remember she didn’t have her suitcase. The flight left in 50 minutes. We turned around and went home.
Is your name Kevin?
So they had no UBER or clothing stores nearby at a major R1 school?
I work IT at a major university and support a lot of these type of things and a quick conversation with the organizer would have resulted in someone taking you to a Target or something similar. Believe me we have dealt with far stranger things with visiting faculty/staff.
A pair of pants, a belt, some socks and undies, a couple of polo shirts/blouses would be $100 or less.
Assuming you weren’t going full savage on the aircraft you would have been wearing at least a day’s worth of business casual attire.
I did this once too. It was a driving trip, so I didn’t even realize the suitcase was missing until I parked at my destination and opened the trunk. Thankfully it was just a visit with some relatives, so I didn’t need any formal clothes and was able to get by between borrowing stuff and one trip to the store. I felt like such an idiot, though.
This is literally one of my anxiety dreams the night before every business trip. Glad you found a solution. I would have pretended my luggage was lost!
I once forgot all of my toddler’s shoes. Every single pair.
Just uber to the airport and use that extra time to get yourself collected. I get mad flustered when I have to travel in 2+ modes (car/plane/train). It’s just too much to think about – the gas, tolls, parking, the shuttle, suitcase, laptop, etc. ugh.
You set yourself up for my favourite joke:
Rando: “Oh, I see you went to the University of Michigan”
You: “Yep”
Rando: “What did you take?”
You: “Just the shirt”
Last year I forgot my sandals. You know, the ones that were meant to go with every outfit for the entire conference so I could ‘pack light’? I wore my sneakers to the airport, just forgot to pack the sandals (and I refuse to wear sneakers with a skirt, conference or not!). Had to walk, I dunno, like a mile or whatever to shopping, turned my ankle on the way there, the shopping place (outlets) was HUGE and 3 levels. Finally found a pair after a lot of limping around, only to come outside to a bad thunderstorm. Got soaked on my way to the Uber because it didn’t arrive where I thought I was supposed to. Couldn’t really walk well, had to forfeit going out for after conference activities with my colleagues because, well, much walking. It was miserable. I did have fun I guess, the conference was good, ended up with a new pair of shoes, but damn.
GO BLUE!
Well jeez, I wish you’d told us while you were there, I could’ve had my folks bring you some stuff! They live there. Also ngl, that’s kind of hilarious. Makes a great story to tell! Go Blue!
Lol, I had the opposite problem on my last trip.
I went out of state to visit a friend. It was about a 16 hour trip using buses + trains.
I made a meticulous list of the outfits I wanted to take, the toiletries I’d need, makeup, accessories, games, etc.
I fucking lost the list a day before, told myself, “I’m the one who wrote the list, I should know what I needed.”
And then packed too many shoes, and forgot half my outfits by packing random other garments??? I didn’t wear any makeup and wore maybe a necklace.
I just took a bunch of random shit with me that was so heavy to do transit on and walk around with.
Not gonna make that mistake again (I say hopefully).
My first work trip away I forgot my wallet. Fortunately my coworker spotted me and I transferred her back.
By the title, it sounded like you brought an empty suitcase with you.
OP were you in Ann Arbor? Or at one of the satellites in Dearborn or Flint? If you were here in Ann Arbor, even on north campus, you really weren’t that far from a more diverse set of shops. Buses are free or pretty cheap (like $1.50 each way).
Useful tip for next time – check local subreddits, if you were here in A2 someone would have happily helped, or at least given you pointers for local transport to get to marshalls or whatever. I know that if I’d have seen your post I would have given you a hand because I forget shit all the time when I go to conferences haha.
Hope you had a good time at the conference either way, and now you can laugh about it at least.
Best way to never forget is to pack your shit then leave it blocking the door. That way you’d have to be literally sleepwalking to forget.
Why not just say the airline lost your luggage?
In 2022, we took southwest to our hometown for Christmas… when we got to the airport we realized our youngest’s bag was never put in the car…
Then our connection flight was cancelled along with the other hundreds of flights that southwest fumbled that year and our luggage was lost for about TWO WEEKS…
She ended coming home like “haha I have all my stuff and you all still don’t” 🤣
Briarwood mall is like 3 miles away. Probably could have popped over for an outfit.
Make sure you put the suitcase on the packing list too
Oh man, that’s kinda hilarious but at least you made it work!
Last international family vacation, we packed intentionally, called a car and carefully loaded everything into the car and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, only to realize dad forgot his passport. Our driver had to double back with him to grab it, and got dad to our gate just in time!
If you make this mistake again, just tell people your checked bag got lost and you had to buy what you could.
Source: had to go shopping in India as my suitcase was in London.
I feel you, last night at midnight after about three hours sleep the previous day. I left my carry-on on a plane. Thank God, I found it.
Had something similar on a family vacation. I had planned an entire week at Disney World for my family and my ex’s parents, brothers, etc. None of them had gone before so I did everything from hotel and flights to packing lists for each person. I even had to run out the day before and buy his dad luggage so the man didn’t try to take everything in old shopping bags.
Everyone stayed at our house the night before we left as we had to get on the road to the airport at 5am. I made sure everybody’s suitcase was lined up at the door and said that each person was responsible for getting luggage into the cars in the morning. After a rushed morning and a two hour drive to the airport, we started pulling out luggage only to discover my suitcase was not there. No one had bothered to grab my bag despite it being right by the door. It was a large checked bag size and bright pink, so kind of hard to miss too. Guess who went shopping for a full week’s wardrobe in Disney Springs!
Reminds of when I packed up my blankets and pillow for a camping trip, checked it off my list, and left it right next to the door as I left 🤦♀️
Went to visit the in-laws across the country with my partner, forgot my phone by the time we got to the airport. They do not get along most of the time and I had no way of escaping the chaos because my partner wouldn’t let me leave his sight.
I have had literal nightmares of this exact scenario. Sorry for your stress OP.