Baggage check, reality check

I thrive in crisis, whether there is one or not

My bags didn’t get lost, they were just delayed.

I had a tight connection in Lisbon, the kind where you run-walk your way through the airport, and neither my regular checked bag nor the cabin bag the airline checked for free got to Malaga with me. The scene played out like a slow-motion tragedy but the story is too boring to read because it happens to every traveller at some point. All you need to know is that I showed up at my friend’s place in Nerja, Spain, with only the contents of my backpack: laptop, phone, books, leftover travel snacks, and a dirty change of clothes.

Could have lived without the mouse, the luggage scale, the Post-its, three of the four face masks, seven of the nine books.

The woman at the lost baggage counter in Malaga airport confirmed that she had my suitcases on a list of items that hadn’t made the connection. She said they might arrive later that same day or could take 48 hours, but at any rate they would be delivered to my address in Nerja.

Something in my brain decided to treat my situation as a worst-case scenario. I’m highly adaptable to crisis, so I immediately adapted to the unlikely possibility that I would never see those bags again. As if I were the victim of a house fire, I made a conscious effort not to think about all that I had lost.

After catching up on the sleep I’d lost to the overnight flight, I made a toga out of a bedsheet and washed all my clothes. What an opportunity to slow down, I thought, as I regarded the stack of books. I can read and write and just give myself time to get rooted to the place I’ll be staying for the next couple months.

Just think about the next thing you need, I told myself, and solve for that one next thing. A European electricity adapter, I thought, and a quick search of Jacquie’s shelves and drawers got me an old Apple charging cord with the piece I needed. A swimsuit, I thought. I got the trial month of Prime on Amazon.es and lost a couple hours to size charts and overnight delivery options. I filled that shopping cart with clothing, sandals, basically everything that I now believed I had lost to the universe, but stopped short of clicking the Order link.

Online shopping was the only reading I got done. The only writing I did was entering my address into the order page.

Next morning, I put on my freshly washed jumpsuit and walked to get groceries. On the way, I popped into one of those shops with throw-away products sold at unethically low prices, a key player in the lost-luggage industrial complex. I bought flip-flops that would turn out to be excruciating on my feet and my ears, underwear and PJs that would turn out to be too small, and a swimsuit that would turn out to be too big.

Why another swimsuit, you ask? The reason: at this point, I’d accepted both the worst-case scenario of my bags never showing up and the likelihood that the Amazon swimsuit would be too small.

Well, the Amazon swimsuit was perfect. I began to look forward to flying back home in September with only my carry-on backpack. I mean, I’d already accumulated a small stack of stuff I would donate before leaving because none of it fits me properly. I was well on my way to an exciting new life of ascetic simplicity. Imagine my disappointment when I got those suitcases and found everything just as I had packed it. By that time, I had already ordered that Amazon swimsuit in two more colours.

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Today’s bonus content may help you survive a luggage delay without shifting into crisis mode.

Baggage delays don’t have to be a crisis

Unless you’re into crises, in which case fill your boots!

I love it when an airline offers to check a cabin bag for free and spares me the hassle of toting and hoisting that thing into the overhead compartment. I’ve heard that many airlines will do it even if they don’t announce it — you just have to request it at the boarding gate. It worked for me last week on my TAP Air Portugal from Washington, D.C. to Malaga, Spain. I’d have packed it a little differently, though, if I’d realized I’d have to spend two days without my checked bags.

Here’s what I’d do next time.