I’ve just come back from a trip using cabin baggage only (small rucksack and suitcase). This was the first time I had ever travelled with cabin bagage only, deciding to do so after KLM mislaid my checked-in suitcase for over a week the last time I flew with them. After a long and tiring day and hours waiting at the gate, when the gate opened I started queuing when boarding started. After a few seconds, I realised I only had the rucksack with me and had left the suitcase by the seat. So I retrieved it. This gave me pause, concerned that I might have permanently lost it if I had left it somewhere en route, and made me think of how to avoid this in future.
Anyone have any tips for the tired and absent-minded?
Muscle memory. I always use the same hand to push the wheeled case. So, something feels “weird” when the hand is free. Of course, this only works if your hands are free.
One - suitcase. And look that you are holding your suitcase
Two - rucksack. And look that you are holding your rucksack.
Three - And look that you are holding your passport/boarding pass.
It’s easier to remember to count to three and you get into a routine.
It really works.
In a similar way, I used to do this before every paragliding launch as failure can lead to an accident, especially with leg straps undone:
Counting to five:
One: Touch my helmet.
Two. Touch my chest strap.
Three: Touch left leg strap.
Four: Touch right leg strap.
Five: Touch reserve handle.
Don’t sit in a seat where you can put the suitcase beside you, and therefore out of your sight. Put it in front of you where you will practically fall over it if you stand up and move off.
cool, I just learnt something new. Not heard of that before, thanks.
My memory still working great but a friend of mine would always misplace his things, from keys to wallet … you name it.
Decades ago I bought him a beeper that would react when clapping your hands. But it read all kinds of noises as clapping hands and it’s sound was a killer, so we had to get rid of it.
He would have loved this thing. Unfortunately he died last year, would have been the perfect birthday-present. (And show how the same present can be totally different if the friendship lasts long enough for the world to develop things).
These things are great. LH was on strike a while ago, we got rerouted through Paris and on arrival I checked the airtags and saw that the luggage still was in CDG so I could wander off to lost&found directly and file the lost luggage notification.
https://www.spotminders.com/ cheaper than Apple Airtags. Work on the same system. Fit easily in a wallet or case. I bought 3 for the prices of 2 offer. Work just fine and remind you when you leave something behind…
There was a joke about a couple that installed the lights in the bedroom, which were turned on and off when clapping the hands. And the next night they were having sex…
My new ambition is to travel everywhere with just one carry-on bag and no hold luggage. I purchased a decent bag and some compression cubes. Plan is to use local laundry services if I go away for a week or more.
Count how many luggages you have before leaving your house (and here you include every bag i.e. your handbag too if you’re a woman, your coat/jacket too if any!) and keep this number in your mind. When you leave a place you count every time: do I still have my two, three etc. things? In time it’s becoming a…reflex!
I do as 3W suggests; I have a tote bag with a wide strap that slides over the handle of my wheeled carry-on suitcase. (IME a wider strap gives you better balance.) The two bags are always together, I cannot lose one. And since the smaller bag sits on top of the first I have a free hand, navigating through the airport is less cumbersome.
Random example, there are good bags at every price range:
I haven’t checked a bag many years; regardless of how long my trip is I can pack all I need in carry-on cases.
I tried compression cubes but soon ditched them. I found they added a bit of extra weight, but more importantly didn’t make the best use of the space available in my bags. Instead I fold carefully - and choose my travel wardrobe even more carefully.
(Now if I could only get my mother to understand that no, I cannot bring that ‘heirloom’ rocking chair/chest o’ bric-a-brac/grand piano back to Switzerland with me…)
Hut ab! I can do that on airlines with a generous hand baggage allowance, but on the Lufthansa group and many other airlines it is incredibly difficult to pack for a few weeks and keep it under 8 kg. The bag itself weighs a few kg. Many airlines with these small kg limits make people weigh the hand baggage before or when boarding, and I’ve seen people forced to check an overweight cabin bag for a very hefty amount.
