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Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash

After being up most of the night beforehand frantically packing and re-packing our bags, we boarded the plane in Hobart just after noon. Giddy with anxiety and excitement we tried to ignore the feeling of butterflies in our bellies and settled in as we had a long 30 hours ahead of us! 

After arriving in Melbourne we took our first international flight of eight hours. This was with Singapore Airlines. We had decent sized tv screens; roughly iPad sized, and a decent assortment of free movie choices. The service from the onboard staff was good and they even managed to cater to my quite specific dietary requirements! 

Following this flight came our second long haul of 12 hours. This was with Lufthansa Airlines who we’ve never flown with before. As soon as we sat down we were shocked at how small the tv screens were. I think the last time I saw a screen that small was when I played Snake on my Nokia 3315! OK, that may be a slight exaggeration – but you get the point! To make it worse the film selection was really poor, with many of the movies not in English. The seats were also pretty tight and even the pocket that hangs from the seat in front of you was so tiny, we couldn’t fit a drink bottle in it! What could we do but suck it up? So we buckled up and tried to prepare ourselves for twelve hours of, well…nothingness.

Twelve and a half hours later we landed in Frankfurt. The flight had taken a little longer than expected. By now we were three out of four flights down, all we had to do was catch the flight to Rome and we were done! 

After disembarking, we weren’t sure if we would make it to our connecting flight. We approached ground staff, some who said we were too late – others who insisted we hurry to the gates. So we fled to the gate, and found it was still open! The airline staff at the gate assured us that if our bags weren’t put on this flight, that they would be sent on the next one – only a few hours later. If only it was that simple! 

On arrival to Rome we stood at the carousel anxiously waiting to see our bags. As happy travellers collected their bags and left, the crowd was quickly dwindling and the carousel was beginning to look bare. It wasn’t too long until the realisation set in that our bags weren’t going to appear – they hadn’t made it on our flight. It’s cool, keep it cool, I assured myself. These things happen to travellers all the time! But I couldn’t help but feel slightly unnerved. We went to the lost luggage counter and were told it would be on the next flight and they would deliver it direct to our hostel that afternoon. So we filled out some paperwork, took their word for it and left the airport.

That afternoon in Rome was a bit of a blur to be completely honest. We were a little jet lagged after being in transit for 30 hours. Even though we desperately wanted to sleep, we always try to stay awake to allow our bodies to adjust to the local time. So after checking in to our hostel, we proceeded to wander around Rome. We were spoilt with really nice weather that afternoon. The sun was shining, and as we walked around I even recognised a few areas where we had been on our last trip five years ago! Surprising since I have the memory of a goldfish! 

We went to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps to find it packed with tourists. It was the afternoon and the start of peak season after all. I have to keep reminding myself of that!

The Spanish Steps looked charming with pots of blooming flowers trailing their way up the centre of the steps.

By late afternoon we settled in at the hostel with the intent to cook dinner. But after showering (making do with hand soap from the bathroom) we crashed and fell asleep early. 

The following day we woke feeling revolting. We both only had the clothes on our backs which we’d now been wearing for 40+ hours. Thankfully I had packed one spare pair of underwear but I’d already swapped them over the day before. We came to the conclusion that the likelihood of us getting our bags back any time soon was pretty slim. We’d already been in contact with the lost luggage section of the airport more than five times via email and our lovely hostel owners had even called them three times. Every time we made contact the response we received was ‘Your luggage should have been put on the next flight and we are awaiting confirmation they have received it’.  Either it turned up or it didn’t. What confirmation were they waiting for? By now we were feeling frustrated and the pathetic responses we received were infuriating. 

I was tired, cranky and feeling depleted and defeated! And I was beginning to wonder if we would actually see our bags again at all! I’d taken so much time deciding what to bring with me – It was my life all packed up into one compact bag. I needed that bag! 

Just like you shouldn’t google ‘aeroplane crash statistics’ before you board a Flight, you also shouldn’t ever google ‘what happens to lost luggage’.  I speak from experience when I say you really don’t want to know how many travellers aren’t reunited with their bags – especially right after you’ve just lost your own! 

By now it had been 24 hours since we’d landed in Italy, so our travel insurance should cover the basics. We figured it was time to go shopping. 

You would think it would be pretty simple right? We were in Rome! A huge European city, how hard would it be to find some basics!

Wrong. Oh, so wrong!

We spent most of our morning trying to find shops to buy cheap clothes. Turns out Rome doesn’t really have any department stores in the CBD, and it can be difficult to work out what’s what when you’re in a city where you can’t decipher the language. After walking for hours we managed to find some socks, undies and a couple of tops. It was better than nothing! I know what you’re all thinking – it’s every girls dream to go shopping for an entire new wardrobe! Well when it’s purely because you have nothing else to wear – it kind of takes the enjoyment out of it!

After further googling that afternoon, I found a post on TripAdvisor from someone that also had their luggage lost while travelling to Rome. This person had decided to go back to the airport and look for it themselves and encouraged others to do the same. They said at the airport they had found a big room full of lost luggage. After reading this post online, Phill and I were thinking we would go to the airport the next day if it still hadn’t arrived. But what if our bags were simply sitting in a room at the airport? We didn’t have any more clothes, and we certainly didn’t want to do more shopping. We had nothing to lose! So we returned to the airport by bus to take matters into our own hands. 

When we got to the ‘Arrivals’ section at the airport we found a woman at a stand. We explained the situation to her, and told her that we knew there was a room full of lost luggage, and we wanted to look for ours. She kindly filled out a form which allowed Phill to gain entry back into the arrivals area. My luggage was under his ticket and name, so I was denied access. 

I sat anxiously while Phill went in to find our bags!

Minutes later he walked out wheeling our bags with the biggest smile on his face. Relief washed over us, I even had a bit of a cry! Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? We were a little emotional ok?! 

The first thing we did was hurry back to the hostel with our bags and have a shower. It felt so good to put on resh clean clothes!

Now it was time to finally start our trip! We could relax and actually enjoy it! With that we ditched hostel cooking for the night and treated ourselves with dinner out at a restaurant. Our hostel recommended a restaurant called Rifugio Romano, which was just a few doors down. I was delighted to realise that Rifugio pride themselves on their Vegan options! And they were able to cater for my dietary requirements.

Things were beginning to look up!