Oh where, oh where can my luggage be?

Losing your luggage is every traveller's nightmare. Unfortunately on this trip not only did I wind up in hospital, but my luggage also went astray...

I'd just arrived at the airport in Nairobi, and was waiting patiently at the carousel for my luggage when I suddenly realised more than an hour had past and everyone on my flight (including Dan) had already collected their bags and long departed. When the carousel finally came to a grinding halt, my heart sank as I realised my bag had not made the journey with me. What was I going to do? I was stuck in a foreign country without even a change of underwear!

No traveller wants to deal with the hassle of lost luggage. Unfortunately, however, misplaced or lost luggage is as inevitable as flight delays and cancellations. So here are my best tips on how to ease the pain.

Look around
Before you panic, take a look around. Luggage can often be placed on the wrong carousel by mistake, so search the other carousels for your bag. Also, look out for bags that resemble yours and are left on their own; another traveller could have accidently taken the wrong one.

Report lost luggage immediately
If your luggage cannot be found, report it immediately, and do not leave the airport without completing the appropriate paperwork. Also, make sure you get a copy of your lost luggage claim form and a contact name and number so that you can monitor the progress of your claim.

Find out what the airline can do for you
This wasn't something I was aware of at the time, but most airlines will provide you with petty cash to cover basic necessities, such as toiletries, if your luggage is lost or delayed, while others will reimburse you for essential purchases. If I had known this, perhaps I might have at least been able to recoup the cost of the expensive new underwear I purchased (I was still thinking in Tanzanian shillings, so accidentally paid $US25 for a pair of undies!). So make sure enquire about the airline's policy.

File a claim
In most cases, as with mine, your luggage will usually turn up within a day or two. If it is lost, however, inform your travel insurance company straight away and supply them with a list of items that were in your bag. Also, ensure you list the value of the suitcase itself and include any out-of-pocket expenses you may have incurred to replace any items (keep all receipts).


The only fool-proof way to prevent lost luggage is to only take a carry-on. This, of course, is not always possible. So here are some tips on how to make sure you luggage arrives with you:

Pack important items in your carry-on
Take as much on-board with you as you can. Make sure you pack a change of clothing and carry important items such as keys, money, essential medication, glasses and toiletries (keeping in mind restrictions on gels, liquids and aerosols) with you. Not packing a change of clothing and underwear was of course the big mistake I made. As it was only a short one-hour flight, I didn’t see the need – Never Again!

Label luggage clearly
Ensure that every piece of your luggage is labelled both inside and out with your name, home address and contact details as well as your destination address and phone number. This way if your luggage does go missing, at least the airline will know where it is meant to be.

List your contents
Before you take off on your holiday, make a list of everything you pack in your bag. Also keep a note of the make, model and colour of your suitcase. If your bag does go missing, this will help when making your claim.

Check-in on time
The most common cause for lost luggage is a late check-in. Try to arrive at the airport a few hours before your flight departs to avoid any problems. Of course this still won’t guarantee that your luggage won’t go astray. I was the third person to check in for our 6.00am flight and my bag still managed to get lost. What’s more, it was the only flight leaving Dar es Salaam at that time of day, so God only knows how it missed the flight!

Double-check the destination
It is not uncommon for staff to make a tagging error. On my way back from Cuba I almost had my bags checked through to Montego Bay in Jamaica instead of Kingston. Luckily I noticed and had the tag changed immediately. So double-check the tag the airline puts on your bag to make certain it is checked through to the right destination.

Image sourced from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How to waste time in an airport

The journey towards our ultimate destinations can be very tedious, especially when it involves long hours wasted in airports. I certainly understand the frustration and boredom of lengthy airport waits — I was once forced to spend 10 hours in the airport in Accra, Ghana, with nothing more than my Lonely Planet West Africa guidebook (which I had just spent the previous two months working as part of a team to update!) to keep me company, and over the years I've spent more hours hanging out in Singapore's Changi International airport than I care to remember. So here are my best tips on how to entertain yourself and pass the time while waiting for your next flight.

Take a city tour
If you have more than a four-hour stopover in an airport, try to arrange a short city excursion. Naturally, this will depend on visa regulations, but these days, most international airports offer a variety of city tours for transiting passengers that range from half-day to full-day excursions that take in the city's major sights. I recently had an unexpected 12 hour stopover in Cairo and to my surprise I was able to arrange a tour to see the Pyramids of Giza — the stopover actually became the highlight of my whole trip as I was finally able to cross off one of my "must sees" from my travel wish list.

Shop 'til you drop
Most international airports have at least one duty free store. In some cases, such as at London's Heathrow, you'll find virtual shopping malls, so the long airport transit provides you with the perfect opportunity to pick up all those last-minute presents for family and friends back home. Even if you aren't interested in buying anything, window shopping is a great way to fill in time — start making your Christmas list or imagine what you'd buy if money wasn't an issue.

Read a book
Long airport waits are perfect for catching on your reading. I normally have at least one or two books on the go as part of my research. Though, reading for work can be tedious in itself. So I'll often pick up a quick pulp-fiction novel that I can easily immerse myself in for few hours, or I'll buy a magazine or local paper at one of the airport kiosks.

Talk with people
Deliberately choose a seat in the waiting room, bar or restaurant where you can maximise your chances of striking up a conversation with other travellers. Most people enjoy talking about themselves and what's important to them, and if they, too, have a long wait until their next flight, they'll probably be just as happy for the diversion as you are.

People watch
If you're like me and not the most gregarious of travellers, sitting back and observing the comings and goings of the people around you can be quite entertaining. I usually focus on one particular thing, such as comparing everyone's shoes or hairstyles. Otherwise, I'll try to imagine where the person is from and where they are going. I am sure the scenarios I come up with are far more romantic and adventurous than is really the case!

How do you waste time when stuck waiting at an airport? If you have any tips to add let me know.

An edited version of this article is on MSN NZ Travel
Image sourced from FreeFoto.com

Picture of the Week: Going nowhere slowly

I've now been in Tanzania just on a week travelling with Dan in tow south along the Tanzam Highway covering the Southern Safari Circuit as well as all the pit stops en route to the Malawian border. Yesterday when we stopped briefly to refuel in Iringa I spied two young men sitting atop of the skeletal remains of what was once a small four wheel drive and was inspired to take the above picture. After our driver spent the last couple of days hurtling a hundred-miles-an-hour along deeply, rutted dirt roads and overtaking trucks and lorries at break-neck speed around hairpin turns on mountain passes, I won't be at all surprised if this is how our snazzy little Rav4 hire car will look when we return to Dar es Salaam at the end of the week. Safari Njema! (Safe Travels!)

Some day I'll fly away

When I was young I loved going to the airport with my family. It either marked the beginning of a new adventure as our family welcomed yet another international exchange student into our fold (my family has hosted 11 exchange students over the years), or a sad, but heart-warming, farewell as they one-by-one returned home to their respective families and countries. So airports have always held a special place in my heart.

Today when I think of airports I am reminded of the touching beginning and ending sequence of my favourite movie Love Actually where friends and family are re-united at Heathrow Airport. The pure joy and happiness of the airport hello-goodbye greeting is beautifully encapsulated by this montage as dozens of real life people share embraces, caresses and kisses. That's the thing about airports though, there's this happy energy about them that makes you feel like anything is possible. People are either excited because they are heading away on a holiday or a trip, or they're happy to be arriving home after time spent away from their loved ones.

Once you make it beyond the airport's main hallway, though, and pass through immigration into the departure lounge you enter a liminal space – a place of transition that is neither here nor there where everyone is a stranger. In spite of the geographical solitude, this border between what was and what is yet to come is still the site of possibility and everyone who enters it has the potential to be changed. No matter where you are going and what you are doing, the experiences you have, the people you encounter and the sights you see while away will change you; even if only in a small way. So as we wait patiently on the threshold of travel there's an air of expectation and excitement as we ready ourselves to move across the limits of what we were into what we can be.

But that is what I love most about airports; the possibility of what can be. Luckily for me, that 'some day I'll fly' away is in fact tomorrow.

See you on the other side!

Image sourced from FreeFoto.com

The world's best and worst international airlines

This last week I was asked to write a brief round-up article for a travel website on the world's top 10 airlines based on an international survey conducted by Skytrax. While I didn't think this was a terribly interesting article, apparently it struck a nerve with the website's readers whose quick clicking actions made my story one of the site's most downloaded articles for the day.

Personally I've always loved flying - I love the food (yes, I really do like reheated airline dinners; they heighten my sense of excitement about the fact that I am doing something out of the ordinary and that I am going somewhere special), I love the movies and I love the thought of taking off to a distant foreign land. But as I have gotten older the whole experienced has dimmed. So much so, that I now spend most of my time during the flight watching the flight route map continually asking myself the question all parent's loath: "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?", "Are we there yet?"

The overwhelming response drawn by this article, however, got me thinking about which international carrier was my most and least favoured airline. So here are my picks:

My favourite international airline
I agree wholeheartedly with Skytrak's survey participants here; without a doubt my all time favourite international airline is Singapore Airlines. I just love to fly with Singapore Airlines. Not only are the seats comfortable (from an economy perspective of course), but the food is superlative and the flight attendants are so sweet and lovely that it’s almost a crime to ask them to do anything for you. The first time I flew with them back in early 2000 I thought I'd been accidentally upgraded from my usual cramped position in cattle class to business class – the seats seemed bigger, I had my own personal TV with a huge choice of movies and could control what I watched and when I watched it; I even had my own telephone (not that I used it). Most of these things are now standard on almost all international airlines, but, in my opinion, Singapore was, and still is, well ahead of the competition.

My least favourite international airline
Nothing against Germans here, but I have to say Lufthansa is the worst airline I have ever flown with – and I've flown with some pretty doggy airlines over the years including a number of very undesirable and unsafe African and Eastern European airlines which I never thought I'd make it to my final destination still in one piece on. When it comes to international airlines, though, Lufthansa with its cramped, cold vinyl seats (didn’t vinyl go out with the 70s?), bland, inedible food and dour flight attendants is by far the worst international airline... All I can say is avoid if you can!

While these two are my most and least favoured airlines, I am sure there are many others out there that I haven’t even contemplated. Which international airlines do you think are the best and the worst?

Image sourced from FreeFoto.com