Hey fam! I haven’t blogged for a long minute because I have been traveling the past week. I’m currently sitting in the hotel lobby of the Reykjavik Residence Hotel writing this post. It’s 1:30am and broad daylight outside. I can’t sleep because I’m still on stateside time. And because the sun is shining. LOL. Not really, but it’s not dark out. It doesn’t ever get dark this time of year. I will probably get used to it when it’s time to leave tomorrow. In keeping with my theme of traveling every month, I visited Iceland and Baltimore for June. Baltimore was by default because that’s where my flight departed.
With all of the tragic news centered around Baltimore…#FreddieGray…#BlackLivesMatter…I knew that I wanted to visit Baltimore for the 1st time. My flight was leaving out to Iceland late that evening so I purposely booked the 1st flight that morning out of Michigan in order to spend a day in Baltimore sightseeing.
My dilemma before I even got to B’more was where was I going to store my luggage? I was going to Iceland so I had a pretty nice size bag considering I had to pack for winter. Ironically it’s Iceland’s summer. I didn’t want to spend the day sightseeing with my luggage. I researched every nook and cranny on Google looking for a place to stash my luggage while I explored Baltimore and no dice. So I figured I would just have to take it along with me. Bummer!
I get to the airport, but before I go to pick up my luggage I stopped at the information booth to get directions on how to get to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. The nice gentleman working the booth gave me directions and I asked him if he knew of anyplace near the airport to store luggage. He said since 9/11 they eliminated anyplace to keep luggage. But he did suggest I not pick up my luggage, leave it at baggage claim and get it when I return. He said that it’s risky, but it should be there when I get back and that’s what most people do. Sir? So many thoughts ran through my head. All I needed was for me to comeback to the airport and my luggage be ghost. How would I survive in Iceland weather with a tank top and ballet flats?
Admittedly, I was scurred. So I had to do a little investigating before I planned to leave my luggage. It was 7am and none of the places I planned to visit in Baltimore didn’t open until to later, so I waited to see what the baggage handler did with my luggage. I sat and watched my luggage go around the belt until it was pulled off and rolled away to a pile of other unclaimed suitcases. I saw that a one of my cousins – not really, but you get my drift– was working the unclaimed baggage area so I walked up to him and inquired. I told him that my luggage was behind the rope, I wanted to sightsee and asked if it would it be there in 7 hours. He said, “Yes. Go!” So that’s what I did. I spent the whole day exploring Baltimore.
I’ve had layovers in many cities and went sightseeing, but it never dawned on me not to pick up my luggage. I usually just brought my luggage along with me. Europe is awesome because they have places to store your luggage at the train stations and airports. The United States sucks (with a good reason) in that aspect. But what are you gonna do? You are going to not pick up your luggage and go explore your layover city. That’s what!
Thankfully, when I got back to the airport my luggage was still in the unclaimed baggage along with many others. I will say this is not for the faint of heart. If you are chicken shit, don’t do it. Odds are you will come back and not have any luggage because of all the worry you will put out in the atmosphere. LOL. Proceed with caution.
Have you ever explored a city during a long layover?
2 comments
My flight to cuba was delayed about 10 hours unexpectedly. In Nassau at the airport there is a small office that you pay to store your luggage. We ran all around the island and went back around 9pm for our 10pm flight it was worth the fee. Just make sure to confirm what time they will be open before dropping off your luggage and make sure to come back for it. Even if your flight is delayed a few more hours go back to either get your luggage or confirm its ok to leave a few more hours, its the islands they may go home assuming you missed your flight not knowing you had delays.