“Why the fuck is there woman’s pajamas in my luggage?”
That’s what I asked myself after I spent 25 minutes going through 655 combinations on the in-built luggage lock in this Sydney hotel.
“Oh shit… Maybe this isn’t my luggage at all?”
At first I thought the customs people had just locked it after an inspection, because it had luggage tag with my name on it.
That’s when I remembered, when I did a self transfer in Tokyo, I had taken off a previous set of luggage tags. I search through my jacket to see if I kept it… Yep. That’s not my name.
I start panicking. That bag had a lot of momentos in it from trip.
I call the airlines, no help, this was my fault and not their mixup… They say they’ll notify me if someone contacts them about missing luggage.
Then a LinkedIn message.
“Hi. Did you lose your luggage in Tokyo?”
Why… Yes I did.
“Yes. I have it.”
We discuss options. Shipping both through normal carriers would cost thousands of dollars.
I look for tickets a few days out. Less than thousands of dollars.
Fine. I guess I’ll take a trip back to Tokyo.
I endure a day of having to wear a set of costume clothes I had storage in my backpack… And eventually make it to Tokyo.
We exchange the bags, take a few commemorative pictures so people would believe us when we tell this story, and part ways. I get a nice flower vase and bottle of Japanese Umeshu for my error.
And people asking me, why didn’t you guys date? Every time I tell the story.
It’s because she came to pick up the bag with her boyfriend, duh.
TL;DR: I had to take a trip from Sydney to Tokyo in the middle of my vacation to retrieve my switched suitcase because I made a mistake.
Comments
Where’s the photo?? 😆
https://preview.redd.it/vq38gma4564f1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=55ad629398cca3cd3e74df845ae5a4f849f54116
Picture of the bags side by side. Her gift for me in the background.
Need to know more about these costume clothes.
Not sure a what shipping services you contacted, but it does not cost thousands to ship a 50 lbs box expedited International.
You used a character that looks similar to a dash in the word “in-built”. This must be AI
edit: /s I gave you guys too much credit thinking you could understand a joke that mocks something ubiquitous about this sub
Thousands of dollars to ship?
I’ve had a whole furniture piece weighing 50kgs shipped from China for like $30
Thousands for a suitcase? If you want it shipped in a day maybe, but if you can wait a week or two it costs a fraction of that.
Once when I was an airline employee, I was traveling on my time off with two huge bags which I thought I picked up from the carousel before running out to the curb to meet my friend picking me up at the airport.
Maybe 20 minutes later my phone rang and for some blessed unknown reason I answered.
“Hi. I’m calling from baggage services. I got your number off of two bags that weren’t picked up from flight (number). Coincidentally I also have another passenger here who is missing two bags “
Told my friend to turn around. It was so embarrassing on so many levels. The bags didn’t even look that much alike unless maybe you were very drunk. I wasn’t. Still can’t quite explain it. Thankfully the inconvenienced parties were understanding, if mystified and we swapped bags without incident.
Did the same bloody thing when I moved to London!
I just bought orange and yellow suitcases so that we can find them quickly. I hope I don’t have the same issue as you.
My ex wife grabbed a bag identical to hers (it was a Marlboro duffel bag) after our honeymoon cruise and started walking without checking the tag. I asked her to check the tag… she mocks me for thinking someone else could have the same bag… it was someone else’s bag.
It quickly became obvious the other bags owner had made the same assumption and walked off with ours. All the cruise could do was hold onto his bag. It turned out he lived down the street from my work so he brought it by the following Monday but then he had to drive down to get his bag back from the cruise line.
Done that… but a cab ride fixed it.
I had a purple suitcase with a rainbow strap around it, it took 2 days to get it back after it was collected on behalf of an older lady (with mobility issues – hence someone else grabbed it for her) going on a cruise. What were the odds?/
Pro tip from a frequent traveler: put stickers, patches, ribbon, and/or other decorations on your luggage. Even if you think you can recognize it, it may stop someone else from grabbing it. Chances are somewhere out there has an identical case. I have a nice black Sampsonite case, very popular, and I wrapped all the handles with yarn so you can’t possibly grab it without noticing the modification.
I grabbed a duffle bag off of the belt at my home airport. I get home, open it and…not my clothes. The bag was the same color, same brand, same size, even had the same wear marks on it. Fortunately the other person had called my wife ahead of me getting home so I had to immediately turn around back to the airport and exchange bags. The guy didn’t seem too amused about it. lol
Now I put a colored strap around my bag so it doesn’t match anything else.
The last time I traveled (years ago) I painted flowers and my last name on my black suitcases so this wouldn’t happen. Black was the cheapest and I knew very common.
Are u gonna show us the woman’s pyjamas ?
You don’t own any extra clothes but costumes?
Our luggage was about this color. It saved us when our airline went out of business mid-flight; we were able to tell the other airline the color and they found it just before they lost access. (At least temporarily.)
I’ve done something similar.
These days I have an Apple AirTag in each bag, and a luggage label with my contact details (the details are hidden).
In the future I’ll be getting battery-powered GPS trackers as well.
And, each bag now has a large yellow cattle tag with my name on it.
I had flown Toronto to San Francisco and gotten in one of the airport shuttle vans.. mine was the last one, and sure enough the last bag was an Air Canada branded one like mine, so I grabbed it.. and it wasn’t mine. Eventually got the couple who’d taken mine to come back on the shuttle to my hotel to exchange it. What sticks with me is the driver was an asshole and insisted he needed to be paid by me for bringing my bag back. I said “yep, and the people responsible are currently in your van. Good luck”