Two years ago Kathy and I went to Camaroon Africa to visit our daughter who was in the Peace Corps there. For the first 3 days there, none of our 3 bags arrived with us. Northwest found 2 of them, but my bag arrived on the day of our departure, 17 days later. They gave me money to buy clothes, but there aren't any clothes stores in the country, only venders selling used clothes on the street. I bought s couple of T-shirts and some shorts, but used underwear !, no way. Fortunately we put one set of clothes in my wife's bag so with the clothes I was wearing when I arrived, I bucket washed (no clothes washers or dryers in that country) 1 set each day and hung them out to dry. I was never so glad to be home in the U S A.
I've never lost any in Cancun, but: I had a flight out of LaGuardia that got cancelled for fog, but somehow my luggage was put on the previous flight, so I was stuck overnight without it. Had one lost in Jamaica, and the luggage agent shrugged and said about 30 percent of bags from the USA don't make it there on the right flight. (I think we flew into Montego Bay.) It came the next morning. I had a shuttle driver who unloaded our car miss a bag and leave it in the trunk. When we told him to turn around, he insisted he'd gotten them all, which gave us a major panic. If we hadn't noticed or had just taken his word for it, we'd have been SOL. Saw one of our bags taken by a porter, put on a cart, and heading off in the wrong direction in Houston. Had to chase it down and insist he give it back. So, yeah...I'm a huge fan of carry on only! Another good strategy: put a big piece of paper with your name, cell, address of the hotel where you're staying and the dates on top of all your stuff. If your tags fall, off, they open the suitcase and ask you to identify what's on top as a way of verifying it's yours. Having that on top will make things a lot easier!
We've had bags lost a couple of times in 15 years or so (only flying a few times a year, but still doesn't seem bad at all.) But we've never had a bag go rogue when we had a direct flight. It seems like the connections are where the snafus happen.
Same thing happened to my boss... He was visiting his daughter in africa in the peace corps as well, and the EXACT same thing happened to him.
My wife always pays the 50 or 70 extra for insurance.covers lost luggage and in case you get hurt or last min you have to cancel your trip.great peace of mind
If you lose your luggage, going to TTR, well they have a shop, you can buy a thong, that'll do for a day or two.....(mascara is in hand luggage - dressed!) :daisy:
They lost our last year going to Temptation and it really sucked...we were in the airport and extra few hours and then they kept stringing up along that it would come. If finally showed up on day 3. Thank-god it wasn't all my stuff (Lynn), my poor husband wore his bathing suit everywhere....I still looked fabulous
Let's see.... We've lost our minds, our shoes, our pride, our dignity, our inhibitions, and our fashion sense on vacation....but never our luggage. And now that I've said this, our stuff will end up in Taiwan on the 28th....:icon_eek:
I always pack swimsuits for both of us and close to party in that night incase it gets lost. I also pack half and half in each suitcase so if they lose one we still have clothes. Maybe if I do the incases it won't happen. Wishful thinking.
