Oh no, where is my luggage!

Helen Shelver on 12 May 2014
Have you ever had that horrible, sinking feeling of being the last person at the luggage carousel? Momentarily mesmerised by the snaking carousel as it silently, ominously weaves its way around, out into the unknown, in again, out again, in again, out again, finally grinding to a shaky, noisy halt? Ever been that one who saunters over to that hole in the wall and muscles up a heavy rubber flap to peer out? Calling hellooooo, helloooo to no-one in particular, answered only by a dark heavy silence. Disbelief, annoyance and frustration quickly becoming the order of the moment? Imagine this……. Moi, the intrepid tour leader had successfully led her tired, but excited group through passport control and down to the baggage carousel. Confident and full of beans, Moi trotted officiously up and down collecting trollies and assisting clients taking luggage off the carousel until everyone was gathered in a neat little group and ready to move through customs. Phew. Hang on….. hang on a minute ……. where’s my bag? Empty…..the carousel was empty! Now as every tour leader will tell you, never, never should clients wait for you, so without further ado, I headed off through customs with the troop in tow….. No worries, I would call the airline later ….. no worries ……. all good. Off we trundled in an air-conditioned coach to the lovely Park Royal hotel, home for the next five nights. Guests checked in and comfortable I headed straight to my room and called the airline. Hello, hello, yes, what? What do you mean? No bag at the airport? No bag on the next flight? That can’t be right. Can you check again? Can’t be sure, but I think that high pitched wailing I heard in the distance was coming from me. Why? Well, because everyone knows that there are no 5’7” statuesque women in Malaysia, that’s why. Running off to the nearest boutique was not going to work…..not for me…..nope, not this time. Sooooo………. the only thing left to do was to rush to my room after dinner, wash everything, hang them over the chairs on the balcony and climb into bed in preparation for an early start the next morning. Aaaah, blissful, blessed sleep. Haha….. not just yet…. Just as I was about to fall asleep, the thought leapt into my head ….. what if? What if your clothes fly off the balcony in the night? So up I got, collected everything and hung them over chairs just inside the room, with the door open. Sigh…..sleep at last. Nope not yet…… what if? What if someone comes into the room through the open door? So up I got and closed the door. Sleep, I need sleep. What if? What if they don’t dry by the morning? So up I got again and opened the door and don’t laugh, set booby traps for anyone who might dare to try – I think I was on the second to last top floor….hahaha, come into the room through the balcony door. Oh and it did occur to me … what if there is a fire, what will you run down to reception in – hahaha the thought was enough to send me into hysterical laughter? Funny what a tired brain can come up with. Fortunately, Penang is teeming with fabulous highly professional and efficient tailors and I dashed off the next morning to be measured for a couple of “uniforms” which in keeping with my run of luck were only delivered two days later, a day before we were due to fly back. The moral of the story….never leave home without a spare set of clothes in your hand luggage!