06-18-2025
I hope that this blog post can reach someone pre-departure, however unlikely, and sooth their anxieties about everything that can (and will) go wrong during international travel. My study abroad program in Florence, Italy also happened to be my first time traveling abroad in Europe at all. An experience I will never take for granted (or shut up about) but this article is about the ugly: lost luggage. My first week in Florence was spent running around cheap department stores buying the essentials; underwear, bras, t-shirt, jeans, face wash. The sorts. Since, of course, my luggage was 9 hours across the world in Dulles International Airport.
Now, the most important piece of advice I have to offer is this: Airtags. They saved my life. I did not receive a single email or update the entire time from my airline (looking at you United) so the only way I knew when and where my luggage was located was by my Airtag. I will never travel any other way. And no one else should either. Go get a pack of Airtags right now, if you don’t already. Arriving in a country where you don’t speak the native language is stressful enough, especially if your 50lb luggage with EVERY clothing item you love and cherish is M.I.A. Though, after three days of excruciating stress (and many tears) I was finally reunited with my belongings. Maybe the real lesson I should be promoting here is to stay calm. I did not stay calm, and everything ended up completely fine, so: save yourself the pain!
My beautiful baby! Reunited at last <3