The Perfect Time to Lose Your Luggage

The worst thing you can do is to carry the luggage of resentment and bitterness into the New Year.

How many times have you stood forlornly at the baggage carousel, watching the luggage track spit out piece after piece of luggage, but never yours? Why is it, when all chance of my suitcase ever showing up is long gone, I feel compelled to stand there and watch the few remaining orphan bags circling aimlessly, as if believing that my stuff is going to suddenly materialize before my eyes if I stare hard enough? But it doesn't.

It's happened again. The airlines have lost your luggage. The good news is that eventually they almost always find your bag and attempt to send it on to you. (Despite all my traveling, I've only really "lost luggage" once.) The bad news is that lost luggage has an uncanny sense of timing, managing to show up either just as you are about to head for the airport for your flight home or, worse yet, showing up about 10 minutes after you've left for a new destination. Some pieces of luggage have been known to follow frequent fliers around for weeks before finally...