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.

Still no sign of the suitcase.

Keflavik Airport seem to take no accountability for it, they just opened a report for EasyJet, and it seems do not bother to look for things their own handlers may misplaced.

EasyJet themselves are bloody useless!!! They refer to this portal that shows the status of the lost luggage and it just says "searching for luggage". I don't believe for one second that anyonea anywhere isaware of any missing luggage.

Ive rung EasyJet four times, their agents are absolutelybloody USELESS!!! They first two times i was cut off after holding for ages, the second the agent could speak nor understand English. After explaining the problem he informed our return flight was next Sunday! I eventually got him to understand me, thought i had the number for someone higher up, but was given Keflavik Airport's number.What bloody useless is that if they opened a report on behalf of EasyJet, therefore shirking any responsibility.

Second agent had trouble understanding me, but was sympathetic. She told me Google customer service at Luton - impossible.

I dud an online webchat with EasyJet. I was given numbers for KEF and LTN but they cut off.

Honestly I want to come home. DH and I are at breaking point. I have been awake since 4am crying, woken by DH's snoring in another room. I wear ear plugs and yep! They were in the suitcase! Of course I should have put them in hand luggage, but i didn't! Ive never had to worry that my suitcase wouldn't arrive. Dh can't sleep in the bed as his side is against the wall on a tiny bed. His snoring is so loud that I can hear it through shut doors.

The rental clothing is definitely not something I would have chosen. The knickers are too small, the trousers are proper hiking ones, but as I'm on a crutch I would have been fine with my ordinary ones. I've got a pair of leggings (that I was wearing) and these waterproof hiking trousers. The socks are thin, I packed 9 pairs of thermal socks as my feet get cold.

I have no bras apart from the one I was wearing and frankly have no desire to go hunting for any. I hate shopping for bras, but i have five pairs that are comfortable, now ive ine - nope none at home either.

I dont want to go shopping for a swimsuits either. We have tours booked and paid for, are not particularly near Reykjavik and everything we've booked is even further. Ive literally no interest now. None.

I was excited, but after losing everything, then waiting for three hours to pick up our rental car, I'm exhausted.

Ive emailed the baggage handlers at both airports and few times. We all had matching suitcases, so realised that a photo of an identical one, including the green material tied on it, would be better than descriptions., especislly if the label dell off.

Ive told them what's in it. Annoyingly we dont have a name tag on it. I did , however, tell them of prescription medicine, with my name on, in the case.

Still haven't looked at travel insurance, as I'm tired and have a migraine since last night.

Ultimately I want to go home. Not sure travel insurance would cover just wanting to go home, but i do. I really can't see myself enjoying a holiday wearing g clothes that I dont like/are not comfortable or that I cannot wash (its not like I can wash them and put them outside on the line - i can was in the sink, but its raining, and there is nowhere to dry anything like a jumper or even leggings).

I dont want to spend time looking for clothes, I hate clothes shopping, it's inconvenient when we have things booked and its too bloody expensive. Then I've got to transport it home and if my suitcase arrives, then I'll be over the limit. That's another thing - no suitcase. I dont really want to buy one (I dont want to buy anything its too bloody expensive) and if my original arrives then one would be discarded.

Overall this is the most expensive holiday we've ever been on, and I've ruined it DH and DD. Im just interested in anything and wsnt to come home. I dont want compensation, I want my case, or even someone to look for it.

Im shocked at just how many cases go missing here, seems Jeflavik have an incredible number of cases that somehow don't make it.

I know you must feel upset. But I would just go with it.
Like you say, you have booked lots of nice things and it will be a nice holiday. Buy enough to use this week and keep receipts and try and claim back what you can on return

Some places in Keflavik for supplies:

Lindex - it’s fairly reasonable for basics. Like h and m prices. Go get a couple of T-shirts/ underwear

Handwer duus - traditional knitwear. Treat yourself to a lovely traditional knit jumper to wear this week, and it can be your souvenir for years to come.

Ask at hotel for nearest boots equivalent to get basic toiletries for you all.

Oh @Anonymousemouses
I am so sorry!! EJ are a complete shambles. They cocked up our holiday last week by cancelling our plane as we were boarding, and not being able to get us to our destination until the day we were due to come home. Whole trip had to be cancelled.

I hate not having my clothes with me, i feel your pain! But if you can make the most of what you have rented and what you can get hold of locally, please try and enjoy Iceland. We went a couple of years ago. It’s amazing.

And yes, the penis museum is real.

You seem to be making an unfortunate situation even worse for yourself. Do you mean you haven’t spoken to your insurance company? They would have given you an allowance for clothing. You could have spent half a day buying what you need to get by and then you could get on with your holiday. They are definitely not going to pay for you to come home. Lessons for everyone - mix up your packing; use an AirTag in your suitcase; pack a spare set of underwear in your hand luggage.

Why didn’t you just detour and buy some clothes??? There’s hiking shops everywhere! Locals will understand where to get pants! Wash your bra! Bathrooms have shower heads. Hang washing on that. Leggings dry overnight too.

Everyone in shops will speak English and everyone is helpful. Cannot see why you rented and didn’t buy. Yes very expensive but you went EJ so must have saved money. Then claim on insurance and at least you get decent clothes to keep.

I can see it’s frustrating. We had lost luggage in India in 1987. I cannot begin to describe the problems. No I didn’t want to come home and buying knickers was way more difficult than Iceland would be!!!!

We found hiring a car quick and easy. Everyone helpful. 3 hours? Why?

Three hours was the time it took, not sure i understand why youre asking why?

You get a ticket from a machine and then wait till youre number is called, there is no way to bypass that, and the place was heaving, so three hours was how long it took from getting a ticket to our number bei g called.

Didn’t have that system. Neither was it that busy as it’s not a super busy airport like Heathrow. Seems very odd. Anyway. You have a car! Go to a shop!

I know it doesn't relate to the OP but how can you mix up your packing if you are a solo traveller?

Just wanted to send some solidarity OP. Iceland is ridiculously expensive, so I don’t envy you having to buy replacement anything there. I was about to book a flight with easyJet but won’t now as this is the third issue I’ve heard about involving them this week.

This happened to us in June when we flew with them to Amsterdam. After 30 mins of trying to fill in the forms, the case popped up on the carousel - it had fallen from the conveyor belt. Poor you OP

It depends how much you're travelling with. Normally, you can't, so you just make sure you've got meds, a toothbrush and clean knickers in your hand luggage.

A former colleague of my mother's was once going to America for a 6 month stint for work. She was advised to put half her shoes in one suitcase and half in the other, in case one suitcase went astray.

And so it was that she ended up having to buy every pair of shoes she needed, after the suitcase with all the left shoes was lost in transit, and she only had right shoes to wear...

When you're advised to split things, do keep them together in useable sets...

Up until this I had no problems with EasyJet and they're much better than TUI, especially cabin crew, I am a very nervous flyer, I do panic on take-off and they are amazing. I'm OK on landing, which is lucky as we had a lot of turbulence on landing.

It did seem ridiculous and I'd heard it was easy to do from someone who got one there on a YouTube video I watched. So I was shocked at just how crowded it was. Mostly Americans. We hired through Budget and there were about 4 people on the kiosks.
We were persuaded to upgrade our insurance as the basic didn't cover chips to the windscreen caused by gravel, I thought how silly as we weren't planning on going on gravel...how naive I was! TBF the insurance was reasonable.

I actually recognise you from the Secondary Education threads @TizerorFizz my daughter goes to the all girl's school in an area you cover (though we live in Elmhurst). It was due to her school taking them to Iceland they we came on this trip, as DH has always wanted to go too, and he got a deal where it was a bit more for us all for a week, than her for four days.

I'm a bit more relaxed now. I do have MH issues, and it catastrophic things, but then things happen like DD2 suddenly dying, Dbro suddenly getting an illness that paralysed and killed him within a year, normal problems I guess, but makes me have disastrous thinking.

Thanks for whoever suggested DH's t shirts, that was a fab idea, I love baggy clothes (I'm disabled due to an ex breaking my leg in my teens, causing arthritis in my 40s, which despite a fusion is still bad, and I dint leave the house unless necessary, so holidays are always stressful and I only go because I'm scared for being alone).

Ive included photos of the place you get clothes to rent, who were pretty good and the coat is really good, in particular, a picture of the gravelly road and some random snaps.

If there’s a shop specifically for clothes rentals for delayed baggage it sounds like it’s a common occurrence! Hopefully you’ll get reunited quickly with your bag.

Years ago I needed to buy a new swimsuit in Iceland - took days until I found one (I had a lovely Speedo endurance costume, whatever bacteria / minerals were in the hot springs ate through the Lycra).

For car rentals, I always recommend hiring through Zest as they include damage excess waiver and you can top up to cover things like tyres / windscreens / underside of vehicles. I find it takes a lot of stress out of car rentals.

I’m sorry life hasn’t been kind to you op. My DD1 did an Iceland trip with school and loved it. DH and me have now been twice. Yes, you need windscreen cover. We went with Discover the World and car hire was quick - just good luck then. 4x4 but we needed it. You will find a few outdoor clothes shops but nothing is cheap. People speak English and are helpful though. Hope you enjoy it!

Now that is funny (sorry.... ) presumably she just didn't think through the advice she was given!
I have been obsessive about putting a mix of clothes in everyone's suitcase ever since some friends flew to Haiti to adopt a baby there.
Their luggage failed to arrive and obviously clothes shopping in Haiti is not really a thing, so as it was warm they just rinsed out their one set of clothes each and they dried overnight. However, the real problem was all the stuff they had taken for the baby as the orphanage don't provide you with anything;... not even baby clothes, you are expected to provide it all.
After two weeks of this their luggage still hadn't arrived, but then their return flight was delayed by a day.... and their luggage turned up during the delay.....

We loved Iceland.... word of warning, if the weather dries up and you are driving trails with the windows open watch out for the dust that destroyed DH's phone screen (he was using it as a GPS ).

Rented knickers 🤮.

Well, it took me a minute to realise you were not stood in Iceland (the shop) with no clothing on.

It's been a long day.

Similar happened to me once. Never got the luggage back. Just had to go and buy stuff when the shops opened. Didn’t get money back from insurance (only covered old for old, not old for new).

Fortunately I was wearing my hiking boots on the plane to keep the weight of my checked baggage down. And ever since, if I ever have a critical item to take, it goes in my hand luggage.

Correct! I was on liquid medication years ago and my GP even wrote a letter explaining it was prescribed medicine etc with the practices address and her name and phone number on it in case I ran into difficulties. I didn’t have any problems at all. I know that doesn’t help you now but useful for future reference. Can you manage without your medicine? If not I’d be phoning the insurance company for help. Hope your luggage turns up soon.

This - l also mix the clothes so everyone has something

Iceland is so expensive too 😣

Poor you OP. Don't suppose you can get stuff via amazon prime in Iceland? Or somewhere else with next day delivery

I had a succession of images, and yes, some involved enormous bras piled high with luggage, presumably strapped to the poster in lieu of a rucksack.

The lurid images were made worse by having just read in the same post about the Penis Museum.

@Slalom99 and @wizzywig - I have my eye on the Faroes for a visit in the next few years. Great to hear about it.