Great Weekend Without Clothes!

My daughter, who is a very frequent flyer, taking around 8 flights a month with her job, flew to Spain on Friday morning for a long weekend.

She arrived at Gatwick early and, as her ticket had been booked including a 23kgs hold baggage allowance, she checked in her small suitcase to save wheeling it around the airport whilst waiting for her colleagues to join her.

All went well with a comfortable flight and no delays until the luggage collection when she found herself watching the conveyor belt going round and slowly emptying, but no suitcase.

At the customer service desk, the bag was eventually tracked back to Gatwick as it had been incorrectly tagged as travelling there and not to Barcelona. Every reassurance was given that the bag was being put on the next flight out that day and would be safely delivered to her hotel that evening.

She therefore had no option than to leave the airport and continue her journey to a luxury resort hotel outside the city. Fortunately, she found a shop nearby and purchased a pair of flip flops and a sundress to join others now enjoying the sunshine at the beach.

On returning to her hotel, she worryingly received a text message from a delivery company saying that they were trying to give her the case but no one was in! On calling the number, it transpired that they were outside her house in the UK not in Spain where they were supposed to be. Panicking that her possessions would not be seen again, she asked me to call and arrange for them to come to me, some 40 miles away rather than be left in transit. When I did this I was informed that the luggage was now at Heathrow at their storage depot!

Eventually, it was delivered to me late Sunday evening. No help to my poor daughter who went out to Spain for a gala dinner and ended up in a supermarket dress and flip flops but a relief to get it back even if it was in the wrong country. Luckily she had some makeup and a hairbrush in her handbag and more importantly, some money. Now begins the lengthy process of claiming back her expenses.

The moral of the tale, always carry essentials with you and if travelling with more than one suitcase and with someone else, split the contents between the two. That way at least you’ll have something to wear.