Just arrived in Iceland and have no clothes. Thread updated- suitcase has now arrived! *edited by MNHQ

[Anonymousemouses]

DH and DD's luggage arrived, but mine didn't. I bought new hiking boots, new swimsuits (never leave the house usually and this confirms I was right). Also contained all the toiletries, towels, some medication that's liquid so I didn't want to risk it, along with jewellery

I know "travel insurance" , but it doesn't help when you arrive in a cold country with nothing.

It was Easyjet and I wasn't the only one on the flight who had luggage missing - but they dont fly here for another 3-4 days, so not a lot of hope.

No advice but total sympathy. A hot country would be much easier in this situation.

Such a pain having to spend the first couple of days finding shops to keep you going until your luggage arrives. Total ruiner of a holiday when you have sightseeing and trips planned.

My DH always puts a full change of clothes in his hand luggage. I don't usually bother but I think I might start!

I had this happen, and my travel insurance covered me by enough to buy a couple of changes of clothing, and toiletries etc.

You can claim from both ready hey and your insurer.
And yes, I made the same mistake on that trip. All my stuff in the suitcase that went missing, while my husband had all his stuff! We didn't make that mistake again.

It's hard enough buying j/k cups in the UK, let alone finding them in foreign sizes (some countries use different letter systems) - usually online ordering - much harder to find a specific store. You can't just nip in anywhere, and in a shop you're usually taking £35 plus minimum.

I can't just nip into an H&M and pick up a 2 pack of 34Ds for £20.

this happened to me six weeks ago in Denmark- thanks easyJet. Try and call the baggage reclaim at the airport you flew from- in my case it was Edinburgh. They were much better at sorting it than the generic easyJet number. Our bag also ended up being sent with a different airline- won’t tell the whole story as it was complicated by my trip only being three days

Also jewelry or anything you consider valuable or irreplaceable if lost.

This happened to us once and we just had to go and buy new clothes. It was pretty interesting being in the ILs house with no clothes and then with weird clothes. Livened things up.

Yep always mix your cases. Me and DH have our luggage no his and mine. Everything is split in half and packed so have of my underwear in each. Half of his &half of my going out clothes, daytime clothes, swimsuits…I also pack one outfit in habvv DC luggage. My friend thought she was inventing the wheel by telling me to share cases as hers got left behind once . I said ‘what? We always do that, doesn’t everyone?’ Apparently not.

I have no practical advice that’s immediately useful, unless any of your dh’s clothes will roughly fit you

But this kind of baggage issue is so commonplace now (and so shocking giving the security in place at airports) that I would say next time to wear the hiking boots/coat on the plane so you don’t have to pack them, get a cabin bag and then squash everything up small to fit in. Various ways of compressing stuff, I personally put it in freezer bags and sit on it before zip locking the air out. I hate checking luggage in.

Easy jet are so shite. We recently went to Croatia and they informed everyone as the plane was about to take off that ten suitcases would be taken off for weight reasons. Had to hope and pray it wasn’t ours. It wasn’t luckily but I did feel very sorry for those who waited at the baggage collection to find it was theirs. They only had to wait until the next day to get it- waiting 4 days is awful

I was going to say this! Always have a change of clothes in your hand luggage too.

Does this apply to UK credit cards? The terms and conditions and listed benefits of my Natwest credit card don't mention anything about lost baggage insurance. It does have section 75 protection which could be used if the flight is cancelled.

Thank you all. We've just been to a special rental shop in Reykjavik that rents clothes...a few others there from my flight. I was given a jumper, a pair of trousers, 2 t shirts, 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of knickers and a coat. We dont pay the airline does. A bit of breathing space.

I actually had the toiletries in my case, so we've had to buy everything.

Will look at our travel insurance, still not in rental yet, as we drove to Reykjavik for this shop but we're staying west of Keflavik.

Thanks again, it is surprisingly chilly here in the wind.

Rental knickers? I think I’d rather wash mine out in the sink every night and dry with a hairdryer than that! But glad you got yourself sorted for a few days at least.

Why do you pack your stuff into separate cases? My parents taught me to mix stuff so every case had a bit of everyone’s stuff. If a bag went missing, no one was left with nothing.

I don't think I'd want to rent clothes, especially underwear. Why not buy a few basics and claim off your insurance?

It happened to me in Helsinki, except it was winter and -17! I bought a pair of warm leggings, a thermal top and a pair of boots. My case arrived the next day - they usually do - and was brought to or accommodation. Good luck.

@Slalom99 ooh what's the faroe islands like?

Travel insurance sometimes requires luggage to be missing for 24 hours before you can claim. I got caught by that once. My luggage did turn up pretty much bang on 24 hours but I'd had to go out and buy things in the day as there was no update and if I'd have waited for it not to show up I'd have had no opportunity to buy clothes before a work conference started. I did get some money back from the airline but I wasted what was meant to be a day of relaxing and sightseeing shopping and spent more than I got refunded.

Well £25 per day might be ok if you are in Spain and can manage on a few T-shirts and shorts but Iceland is a different ball game.

Sorry the knickers, socks and t shirt things are not returnable, they're new in a packet and I keep them.

We always mix clothes in our cases but a few years ago lots of the flight’s cases got left at Heathrow so about half the people at our resort were without their clothes 😂

It was going to be a minimum of 3 days until our luggage turned up (on a 7 day holiday!) and we were told by the tour guide to get essentials and save receipts. The little village we were staying in thankfully had pretty much all we needed but at extortionate prices.

The luggage did turn up with two of the cases soaking wet! And my insurance company paid out. Was a nightmare at the time but we laugh about it now.

Good idea. It happened to me once, when I was fairly heavily pregnant and enormous and absolutely not a stitch to wear except the sweaty old dress I'd flown in.

Contact your travel insurance to explain the situation and what they can help cover. It will be more than EasyJet which is just for luggage it’s not insurance as such to get any bits.

As an aside as others have said and I realise doesn’t help now - mix your stuff between all the checked in cases, and try and have a change of clothes in your hand luggage. And medication wise, that is an absolute no no putting it in your checked in case for exactly this reason, any medications you need need to be on you and accessible at all times, you can take liquid medications through even if over 100ml providing you have doctor’s letter/copy of prescription.

Yep me too. Great advice @Mumof1andacat

Absolutely stunning. It is so unspoilt and not in anyway overrun with tourists.

Torshavn is small and once you leave the town it feels like there are just a few scattered houses and the odd village.

The scenery is genuinely breathtaking. I’ve travelled a lot and would put it right up there with the best places I’ve ever visited.

Considering how close it is to the UK few people visit which means it is not ruined by tourism. In fact the local government look to restrict numbers in part by not advertising much and not improving the infrastructure that tourism needs. Accommodation is very limited. Literally a tiny handful of small hotels and some private Airbnb places.

I’d urge anyone to visit. You’ll love it. They also have what must surely be the most magnificent tunnels you’ll ever see!

Always, always mix up packing so everyone has something to wear if a case doesn't arrive!