When our son Noah was 4 or 5 we took him on his first plane trip to Aruba for a week’s vacation.
I bought a set of matching suitcases on wheels in three sizes – the big one for my husband, the middle one for me, and the small one for Noah, and once we got to the airport he watched intently as the agent weighed and labeled our luggage, proudly telling her which suitcase was his.
All during the flight he was spellbound in his window seat. Then when we landed in Aruba and stood at the luggage carousel, he watched eagerly for our three suitcases. He spotted the big one first, then the middle one – but alas his little one was nowhere to be seen.
By then Noah was in tears when a kindly airport porter realizing the situation said they could go to the lost luggage room and look for the missing suitcase.
And so hand in hand the two of them disappeared behind a wall at the back of the carousel to come back a few minutes later, Noah now all smiles. Waving goodbye to the porter, and pulling his little suitcase behind him, he was now ready to begin our sunny Caribbean vacation!
(To read more about that lovely trip see Aruba Nights)
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
I am glad this story had a happy ending, Dana. Far too often, some piece of luggage gets lost for days and you are lucky if it shows up while you are still on vacation. A friend told us that one daughter bought her other daughter a PGS tracking device for her luggage for a recent trip. Her luggage did NOT come through. The airlines told her where the luggage was, but the tracking device (which was accurate), said the suitcase was in an entirely different country! It took days, but she did eventually get it, thanks to her ability to track its whereabouts.
Yes, we were lucky that day but have had our share of lost luggage woes.
A tracking device for luggage sounds like a must, thanx Betsy for the tip!
Is that a picture of Noah? Too cute, whether him or a stock photo. I bet Noah has great memories of the trip too—would be interesting to read his retrospect.
No it’s not Noah, but I was delighted to find a stock photo of a kid about the same age pulling a little suitcase.
Will read him the story and see what he remembers!
Adorable! Glad the kindly airport porter saved the day!
Yes he did, and surely no one wants a crying kid at an airport!