Travel Tips: Ways To Find Your Luggage
If you are getting ready to go on vacation or a business trip, you can save yourself a lot of time at the airport with one simple step: making your luggage easy to spot. Having ways to identify your luggage can help you to get out of the baggage claim area quickly and off to your destination.
It’s not always easy to figure out which luggage is yours in the bustle of an airport baggage claim - next time you’re waiting at the baggage carousel, make a note of how many identical black canvas bags you see. I’m guessing this accounts for the bulk of the bags there in the carousel, right? This is why baggage mix-ups happen so often; a lot of people have baggage which is the same color, size and style as everyone else!
If you’re looking for some new luggage, why not get something a little different this time? Unless you have your own custom designer, you may not be able to have a luggage set which is unique to you, but if you move away from the normal black or brown, it can go a long way towards helping you identify your luggage so you can find it quickly in the airport. If you are feeling a little more adventurous, you could opt for bright colors or eye catching patterns; while not for everyone, it certainly makes it easier to spot your belongings.
You can make your luggage stand out from all the other bags on the carousel by tying a brightly colored ribbon or patterned scarf to them. You should go for a color or pattern which is more unusual to minimize the chance that someone else with the same idea will accidentally grab your luggage or vice versa. For this reason, you should always check your luggage tags, no matter how unique you think your ribbon or scarf to be.
Ribbons and scarves are problematic in another way because they can get caught on machinery during baggage handling process, causing delays and can also be removed during handling. If you are going to try the ribbon or scarf strategy, remember to also include all of your contact information on the tag.
Additionally, you should put your contact information inside each bag. If your luggage is lost or switched with that of another traveler, this can help your bags find their way back to you. And if your luggage tags should somehow come off in transit, you can then prove your ownership of your luggage to airport personnel.
A growing number of travelers have turned to personalized luggage tags as a way to keep better track of their belongings. You might be surprised at the variety of looks you can find and while possible, it’s not likely your fellow travelers will choose the exact same ones. Embroidered luggage tags in particular have gained popularity recently but there are many options from which to choose. Because really unique ways to identify your luggage are key to finding your bags quickly, try to go for the most unusual tag you can find.