Never ever think that seasoned travellers don’t make mistakes! Messing up isn’t just something that happens to occasional travellers – it can happen to ANYONE! Just ask me, someone who has travelled often yet made a major travel mistake only a few short weeks ago.
Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com
A trip that had been in the works for years was coming to fruition and departure day had arrived—a foray to the west of Scotland on a journey centred around a popular whisky festival on Scotland’s Inner Hebridean island of Islay. Yes, that Islay, renowned for its peaty single malt whiskies. Fèis Ìle is a spring festival celebrating the island and its whisky. Throughout the area whisky aficionados (and beginner whisky fans like myself) attend tastings, tours, distillery days and more. Attendance to this festival calls for advance planning particularly in regards to accommodation as hotels, guesthouses, and inns book up in record time. Transportation to the island along with selecting events was required as well. Our Islay plans were set and the remainder of our time in Scotland worked around this. It had all come together. As the the weeks, passed our excitement picked up speed. Then, finally, it was departure day!
Using public transport to reach the airport, my companion and I alighted from the train at the station at the airport. Passing through the gates with suitcase in hand I followed after my friend. She suddenly stopped, turned to me and said “Where is your backpack?”. I quickly noticed that the weight of the small day pack was not on my back or shoulder and meekly replied “It must be on the train”. My heart sank as I remembered I took it off on the bus, followed by a panic that arose in my chest as the realization of what I had truly done set it. In a high-pitched voice, tears forming in my eyes, I cried out “MY PASSPORT IS IN THERE!!“
Until that moment, I had never arrived for an international flight without my most valued possession. It had always been with me on every international flight I had ever taken over the decades—I had never left it behind. I was stunned by what happened. I needed that passport! How could I have been so careless? So stupid? What should I do? As an overwhelming rush of feelings coursed through my system, hot tears fell from my eyes. Had I just doomed this trip? Yet beneath the swirl of thoughts and emotions, I heard a small voice in my head telling me to take action now! I spotted the station’s help phone and sprang into action, running to grab the direct line for help. What followed was an incredible and cohesive effort on part of Vancouver’s Canada Line rapid transit and Translink transit services to communicate, locate, and return my backpack and passport to me. Canada Line sent someone to my location within minutes and checked CCTV footage to learn if I had my daypack with me when entering the station and train. It had not been with me, which meant it I had forgotten it on the bus, a short 10-minute ride from my home to the station. Translink Customer Service began contacting their people and the driver. Thanks to my friend, who had screenshot our times from the company’s Trip Planner feature, they could pinpoint which exact bus we had been on. Painfully slow minutes passed as I told my friend she should go on with out me if it all went sideways, while she reassured me that this wasn’t over yet. What seemed like an eternity later, I heard the voice of a Transit Supervisor on the other end of my phone. As he reassured me that my bag had been found and that he was en route to intercept the bus driver and deliver my precious cargo back, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I wanted to hug this man! He arrived about 30 minutes later and with immense gratitude, I thanked him profusely, hugged the bag close to my chest like a child, and resumed my journey.
With a quick moving queue at security we arrived at our gate with minutes to spare. I felt an immense wave of relief and joy wash over me. With my backpack in hand, I boldly marched down the loading dock to the door of the plane, grateful to have made my flight. As I sat in my seat, I silently vowed to staple my passport to me to avoid such a near miss again.
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