Having NOTHING

[ilovellamas]

Has anyone ever been in a situation where they were pretty much stripped of all their belongings? And I mean like, long long periods of time. Was it by choice, and how did you like it?

An airline lost my suitcase on my way moving from the US to Europe, and so now all I have are my passport, money, laptop, mp3 player, and the clothes that I was wearing when I left the US. I also have some random things like a travel yahtzee game and a couple text books. I might get my suitcase back, but I don't know how or when.

It's very odd. I guess I wasn't prepared for it, and it's kind of crazy. I don't have enough money to go out and buy all new clothes and such right away... I got a few changes of clothes and a few basic necessities. But damn. If I didn't have my laptop, I'd be completely withdrawn, haha.

[Tizzalicious]

Yikes, I hope you will get your suitcase back soon!

I fly SO much, and I am always worried something like that will happen. I always make sure I spread out my meds (half in the suitcase, half in my carry on), and when I take the stuff for my shop with me, I always keep it in my carry on (good thing it's all small), because I am so scared it will get lost.

[Oxygene]

That blows

are you coming to any offspring shows next week?

[ilovellamas]

Yikes, I hope you will get your suitcase back soon!

I fly SO much, and I am always worried something like that will happen. I always make sure I spread out my meds (half in the suitcase, half in my carry on), and when I take the stuff for my shop with me, I always keep it in my carry on (good thing it's all small), because I am so scared it will get lost.

Oh that's smart. I got really lucky that all the most important stuff was in my carry on... which was just a backpack. Spreading out things like meds is smart. My prescription sleeping pills were all in the suitcase... only the over the counter ones (melatonin) were in my carry on. :-/


That blows

are you coming to any offspring shows next week?

Where are they playing? I probably won't do a lot of traveling until I start having an income. I start teaching at the end of September when school starts. So hopefully starting in October I'll do some traveling :) But I don't think I should spend money on a show right now... :(

[Bejka]

ou, sorry to hear that. Which airline and airports was it?
I also had problem with my suitcase once after flight from Paris to Pensacola via Georgia, but it was delivered the next morning. If yours wasn't there after few days then..... hmmmm it's probably gone forever. Have you got insurence?

[ilovellamas]

ou, sorry to hear that. Which airline and airports was it?
I also had problem with my suitcase once after flight from Paris to Pensacola via Georgia, but it was delivered the next morning. If yours wasn't there after few days then..... hmmmm it's probably gone forever. Have you got insurence?
Aer Lingus, Dublin airport. They said they mailed it to the temporary address I put down in Dublin. She was someone I couch surfed with for one night. I don't know how she would get it to me (shipping would be outrageous), plus she hasn't said she's received it yet... I don't know if it'll get to her or if she'll send it to me. Sucks. And no, no insurance.

[Tizzalicious]

Oh that's smart. I got really lucky that all the most important stuff was in my carry on... which was just a backpack. Spreading out things like meds is smart. My prescription sleeping pills were all in the suitcase... only the over the counter ones (melatonin) were in my carry on. :-/


Ah, that's unlucky!

[Bejka]

Aer Lingus, Dublin airport. They said they mailed it to the temporary address I put down in Dublin. She was someone I couch surfed with for one night. I don't know how she would get it to me (shipping would be outrageous), plus she hasn't said she's received it yet... I don't know if it'll get to her or if she'll send it to me. Sucks. And no, no insurance.

oh, damn. they MUST give you some money or something even if you had no insurence.
and are you in Dublin now? or back home?

[T-6005]

I've only had my suitcase get lost at the airport once.

I commiserate, but at least all of your absolute necessities were on you.

[ilovellamas]

oh, damn. they MUST give you some money or something even if you had no insurence.
and are you in Dublin now? or back home?

I was en route moving from the US to the Czech Republic with a layover in Dublin for a day.

I commiserate, but at least all of your absolute necessities were on you.

This is what I keep telling myself. A passport and money would be far worse to lose...

[Bejka]

who made the tag? :eek:

soooo you are in lovely Czech Republic now? Nice!!! Don't worry, it will be OK :)

[ilovellamas]

haha thanks to whoever made the tag :P And yeah at least I'm somewhere awesome so it doesn't bother me so much... but it still sucks.

Anyway nobody answered my question... I guess nobody's ever been stripped of their belongings before... I guess I'm a rare case, haha.

[Oxygene]

Where are they playing? I probably won't do a lot of traveling until I start having an income. I start teaching at the end of September when school starts. So hopefully starting in October I'll do some traveling :) But I don't think I should spend money on a show right now... :(

Wiesen Austria (which is very close to the Slovak Hungarian border) and Zagreb Croatia.. if you make your way down to Budapest Thursday night, Friday morning you can come in our bus.. the bus should cost like 40-50 EUR per piece to go to both shows and end up back in Budapest Sunday PM.

[Jesus]

That sucks.

Make sure (if you haven't already) you fill in the necessary paperwork (don't trust the phone calls, the files are probably on the airlines website), otherwise the airline will probably play it hard to compensate you and say that you were too late with your complaint etc.

[Outerspaceman21]

First off, thats lame, but at least you have money and yahtzee

I haven't and it wouldn't bother me. I would think of it as starting over. Sure, all that stuff would had some kind of value, but I really don't put much value in material possessions. Cept maybe my laptop because that shit is expensive and I need something to watch funny videos, listen to music and play WoW.

[ilovellamas]

Wiesen Austria (which is very close to the Slovak Hungarian border) and Zagreb Croatia.. if you make your way down to Budapest Thursday night, Friday morning you can come in our bus.. the bus should cost like 40-50 EUR per piece to go to both shows and end up back in Budapest Sunday PM.

Thanks for the offer, but even just 50 euros is a lot more than I should spend right now without an income. Plus I'd have to buy a ticket to Budapest and then concert tickets. Maybe sometime in the future :)

That sucks.

Make sure (if you haven't already) you fill in the necessary paperwork (don't trust the phone calls, the files are probably on the airlines website), otherwise the airline will probably play it hard to compensate you and say that you were too late with your complaint etc.

I did fill out the form at the airport as soon as I didn't get my luggage from the baggage claim. I might go online to see if I can update the form or something with the address of where I'm staying for now. Thanks for the advice.

[RageAndLov]

I've experienced the same thing a couple of times, but it is always on the trip home, so it has never been a big problem, except once where my dad had put his carkeys in our trunk, so we were stuck on the airport, waiting for the next flight to come with our trunk.

Anyways, where are you moving to?

[Jesus]

I did fill out the form at the airport as soon as I didn't get my luggage from the baggage claim. I might go online to see if I can update the form or something with the address of where I'm staying for now. Thanks for the advice.

Yup best to keep in touch with them. And if they can't trace your luggage and finally decide it's lost, you'll probably end up with around 200 euros of compensation, cause it's basically impossible to prove what was in your luggage and they usually then give you the minimum amount.

[Little_Miss_1565]

To answer your question, I've gone several days with noooothing. About a year and a half ago we had bedbugs in my apartment (fuuuuck NYC) and I had to throw away half my shit, send the rest of it to the cleaner's, bag and box up the rest, and leave my apartment for a few days while they sprayed loads of chemicals around. I left my apartment with the clothes on my back and my pain meds in my purse and that's it. I hit up Target on my way to my boyfriend's house and bought a couple cheap dresses and toiletries to get me through the rest of the work week (and I had a major work event the next night, too). I actually found the experience really liberating at the end of it. It showed me how little I can really live with.

But I would never leave any medication in my checked baggage...firstly, the cargo hold in a plane is not temperature-regulated and that can damage your meds. And the other risk is what you're experiencing right now. Hope they find your bag soon.

[ilovellamas]

So I have an update. I took Jesus's advice and hounded them. They realllly gave me the runaround, and told me lies. They told me they had no idea where it was for a while, and then moved on to telling me they shipped it to the temp address I stayed at in Dublin. Well, I kept asking the person I stayed with if it had shown up, and she had no sign. I started emailing the airline, telling them how angry I was about this. FINALLY I got an email from someone saying that my luggage was at the lost luggage place and they needed my address to ship it to me. Today I got an email saying that my luggage is now at the airport in Ostrava, and they need a phone number in order to ship it to where I am.

Soooooo hopefully after all this, I will end up with all my luggage back safely. THANK GOD. It's been 3 weeks since I got here, and I did buy a few new clothes, but there was a lot in there that it really sucks to be without.

To answer your question, I've gone several days with noooothing. About a year and a half ago we had bedbugs in my apartment (fuuuuck NYC) and I had to throw away half my shit, send the rest of it to the cleaner's, bag and box up the rest, and leave my apartment for a few days while they sprayed loads of chemicals around. I left my apartment with the clothes on my back and my pain meds in my purse and that's it. I hit up Target on my way to my boyfriend's house and bought a couple cheap dresses and toiletries to get me through the rest of the work week (and I had a major work event the next night, too). I actually found the experience really liberating at the end of it. It showed me how little I can really live with.
Fuuuuuck, I just saw this. Bed bugs sound like such nasty assholes. I definitely agree with you on that last part; having nothing is eye opening and makes you wanna get rid of shit you don't need. So what happened with all your stuff? You had to throw out half of it (hopefully nothing hugely important?), but you got the rest back?

But I would never leave any medication in my checked baggage...firstly, the cargo hold in a plane is not temperature-regulated and that can damage your meds. And the other risk is what you're experiencing right now. Hope they find your bag soon.
Hmm didn't know about the temperature stuff. I haven't done much flying in my life. Good to know for future reference.

[Little_Miss_1565]

Fuuuuuck, I just saw this. Bed bugs sound like such nasty assholes. I definitely agree with you on that last part; having nothing is eye opening and makes you wanna get rid of shit you don't need. So what happened with all your stuff? You had to throw out half of it (hopefully nothing hugely important?), but you got the rest back?

I dropped off all my laundry at the cleaners, so it was about a week before I could get it all back. That was almost as expensive as the exterminator's fee, but doing all that laundry myself would have ended me. I had to quarantine a bunch of my shit for awhile but eventually got it back. Except for the stuff I had to ditch immediately, which was a fuuuuckload. But yeah.