Price Family Travels: Arrival in London and a Sidebar on Luggage “Strategy”

Gooooood morning, campers. It was 3:30am Austin time, a handful of hours of sleep and despite all our luggage being forcefully checked for our flight from Rome and our blue luggage strap being lost after one flight (Austin to London gate checked stroller) and all incredibly MINOR issues- we were all in pretty good shape. Of course, sliding though customs and security again was a drag as we were worked over a bit and had to throw out our children's ibuprofen and children's Benadryl. But since not much of anything is particularly pleasant during either (1) the end of a transatlantic flight or (2) during airport security checks - I still give the whole experience (especially considering we are traveling with three small children) an "A"

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the airport and loaded up plane #2. Almost incredibly, whole we were sitting on the plane a flight attended walked up and handed me the lost blue luggage strap!

A little more napping by everyone on the the plane and we were good to go once we landed in Rome.

Jet bridge pics while waiting for our stroller, which arrived- last item off the plane - but without the handy blue luggage strap. This is key because while our travel cot is tiny compared to any I've ever seen (our heavily researched Phil and Ted's Travel Cot at 7 lbs, 23" long and about 10" diameter) part of our packing strategy is that it goes into the stroller bag with our stroller. The combo is still smaller and lighter than if we had brought our BOB stroller or just about any other stroller we've had before this one. Which was also heavily researched in advance: a super lightweight and compact Summer "3D Lite" that's still sturdy and tall enough that Joe doesn't have to hunker down and roll his shoulders down to push it.

Anyway, with the two in the bag, it should be fine- but with the strap on it, the two together are super easy to move, reducing the possibility that they are broken or annoying to the airline folks. I think technically we could Gate check them both separately and be fine, but again- it's all about an intentional strategy to reduce the likelihood that we don't have luggage lost or destroyed along the way of our collective 6 flights. Doing the quick math, that's a potential 54 opportunities should we check all roll-aboard suitcases, stroller, travel cot and car seat. On a related note, it's honestly much easier on everyone's bodies to roll their luggage through the airports rather than carry around their backpacks (which aren't even packed half full, but the electronic devices and a book/journal or two in them make them rather heavy).

The trusty 23 year old 747 that took us across the Atlantic

When we parted ways with our roll aboard bags until Rome.

Plane sleeping. She was already passed out and her Bubba swooned on her sweetness. Then said she would probably like to hold Tigey because she really likes him when she's awake- then tucked him in into her arms.

Remarkable. We both suspect that an unmarked random item like this would have never been returned by pretty much any airline (except *maybe* SWA) in the US. Shoutout to the lighthearted, proper, and courteous Brits!! 🙌