Ahead of my study abroad trip in 2014, my mom gifted me with a lovely luggage set. I have brought it out countless times over the years, though I usually favor my Away bag. That being said, the carry-on from this set was the perfect size for our Air Canada flights to Tokyo, so I opted to dust it off. Unfortunately, I should have inspected it a little further…
Here’s the scene: we’ve just arrived at our hotel in Montreal for our overnight layover, the kids are excited to be off the plane (and to see the snow), and we are ready to settle in for a chill night in the room. I’m pulling out pajamas and collapsing handles on our bags, but my handle just won’t go down. It’s stuck in the upright position, anddddd cue my internal panic. I can’t get this bag on to our next flight if the handle won’t work, since that means it won’t fit in the overhead bin.
Whelp, so much to our smooth start. We determined the best move was for Tyler to head out to a nearby shopping plaza while I stayed in the hotel with the kids. He would source a new carry-on for me to use. He took an Uber to a nearby Marshalls and sent me a few pictures of the luggage options they had available. I picked one that seemed to be the correct dimensions, so he scooped that up (and grabbed a drink at a nearby pub while in town).
He returned triumphant, and with enough time that he and our son could still get some time to play in the show before dinner. I quickly repacked my things and transferred everything into my new suitcase. Goodbye, broken carry-on. I left it behind in the hotel the next morning, a relic of my earliest international travels, as we made our way to the airport for our flight to Japan.
Travel, especially with kids, is not without its hiccups, but this is certainly one of the wildest ones. I was honestly pretty impressed with how quickly we were able to troubleshoot, and the new bag fit into the overhead bin without any issues. From there, it carried us through the rest of our trip!