Traveling Light | Motohiro Tsuchiya, Vice-President / Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance
2023.06.13
Most of my recent overseas trips have been related to university business, and I rarely get to travel for my own research. However, in April, I was invited to a conference on a topic I am currently most interested in—one that is usually difficult for me to attend—so I decided to take the plunge and go.
It was a five-day, two-night trip: leaving on Monday night and returning on Friday morning, with only two nights in Madrid, where the conference was held. I couldn't take the Monday daytime flight because I had an in-person meeting at Mita Campus that I had to attend. If I had been able to take that flight, it would have been a more relaxed itinerary with only one transfer, but that was not to be. My presentation was scheduled for the day of my arrival, so I wanted to get there as early as possible.
First, I boarded a flight from Haneda Airport to Frankfurt, Germany. However, the plane's arrival at Haneda was delayed, causing our departure to be 30 minutes late. Frankfurt Airport is enormous, so immigration and moving between terminals take a very long time. My original layover was two hours and 20 minutes, but the delay left me with less than two hours. Nevertheless, I somehow managed to make my next flight. It was lunchtime, and since no meal would be served on the next leg, I even had enough time to buy a sandwich.
However, this second plane was also slow to take off due to runway congestion. I started to feel a bit anxious. The next transfer was in Brussels, with a layover of only 50 minutes according to the original schedule. I had assumed that would be enough, as there was no immigration check. But we arrived in Brussels 40 minutes late. Panicking that I might miss the third flight, I disembarked, and luckily, the next gate was right across from ours. I joined the end of the boarding line, just as most of the other passengers had finished boarding. At that point, I resigned myself to the fact that my suitcase probably wouldn't make it.
For the past few years, to avoid the hassle of planning for each trip, I've been using a large suitcase for both long and short journeys. I have a packing list, and I just adjust the number of changes of clothes, mechanically toss everything else in, and check the suitcase as baggage. But this time, with only a two-night stay and tight connections, I should have used a small carry-on bag. It was too late for regrets.
With my presentation time drawing ever closer, I arrived at my final destination, Madrid Airport, on schedule. I waited at the carousel just in case, hoping my suitcase might appear, but as expected, it did not. I filed a report at the baggage counter, received the paperwork, and finally hailed a taxi to the conference venue.
I made it to the conference in time, but I didn't have my suit to change into. I was wearing a slightly casual dress shirt and a jacket, and I had packed one tie in my carry-on bag just in case. But I was wearing jeans. It was a rather odd outfit, but thanks to the lectern, my pants were mostly hidden from view. I simply put on the tie and finished my speech.
After that, all I had to do was listen to the other speakers. The talks were fascinating, filled with information I don't often get to hear. In between sessions, I checked the airline's website and found that there was another flight on the same route arriving a few hours later. I felt relieved, thinking my suitcase would surely arrive that night. That evening, I had a light dinner with two acquaintances at the hotel restaurant and decided to wait for my suitcase in my room.
However, the suitcase did not arrive that night. When I tracked it online, the status showed that it had been located somewhere and was on its way to Madrid, but it remained unchanged.
The next day, I expected the suitcase to arrive on the same flight I had taken the day before, likely in the early afternoon. While listening to the conference presentations, I checked the website from time to time, but there was no update. Then, suddenly, my cell phone rang. It was an unknown number, but I figured it must be about the suitcase. I rushed out of the conference hall and hit the answer button, only to hear someone on the other end shouting, "Hello!?" I replied, but it seemed they couldn't hear me. After we shouted at each other for a while, the call was abruptly disconnected. I tried calling the number back several times, but no one answered.
By the end of the second day of the conference, my suitcase still hadn't arrived, and I was wearing the same clothes I had on when I left Tokyo. I had uncharacteristically purchased travel insurance, and upon checking the policy, I discovered that baggage delay was covered. It only covered the purchase of minimal necessities like underwear, though. Still grateful, I asked the hotel front desk where I could buy some, and they told me to go to a department store. Since I hadn't taken a single step outside the hotel since my arrival, I decided to go out for a walk. It was evening, but the Madrid sun was still high in the sky. No wonder the nights are so long, I thought.
As I was walking down the street, I was about to pass two people wearing conference badges around their necks when one of them reached out to shake my hand, saying, "Professor, that was an interesting talk." "Thank you, thank you," I replied casually.
When I got to the department store, all the signs were in Spanish, and I couldn't understand much. I asked the security guard at the entrance in English what floor menswear was on, and he told me in broken English. He even apologized, saying something like, "Sorry for my bad English." He was a nice person.
I bought everything I needed from three different sections in the menswear department, but none of the three clerks spoke any English. However, at the sock counter, the clerk enthusiastically recommended one pair over another. At the underwear counter, another clerk sized me up and picked out what he thought was my size. They were good people.
I didn't know when my suitcase would arrive, but I was relieved that I could at least change my clothes that night. I also bought a light meal and started walking back to the hotel. If I had more time, I would have liked to visit a museum, but I had to leave the hotel early the next morning for my flight home. I really wanted to get my suitcase back that night. As I was thinking this, I ran into another conference participant. "Professor, let's go for dinner. Why are you walking in the opposite direction?" he asked. I had heard that the dinner that night was only for official members of the conference, so I hadn't planned on going anyway. "Oh, I have a very early start tomorrow, and my suitcase still hasn't arrived," I said, making an excuse before taking my leave.
I checked the website again, but there was still no update. With no other options, I explained my predicament to the hotel reception, and they made a phone call for me. They told me the suitcase would arrive at 10 p.m. that night. I was jet-lagged and wanted to sleep early, but I decided to wait until 10.
As I was dozing off, I was startled awake by a loud knocking on the door. I opened it to find a hotel employee holding some sort of package. When the cleaning staff had entered my room during the day, they found no other luggage and assumed it was an item left behind by a checked-out guest, so they had taken it. It was nothing I would have minded losing, but I accepted it. However, the suitcase never came. Figuring it was a lost cause, I gave up and went to sleep.
Partly due to jet lag, I woke up at 4 a.m. I had to leave the hotel by 6 a.m. As I was slowly getting ready, I noticed the light on the phone was blinking. There was a voicemail message. Had the phone rung without me noticing? I listened to the recorded message, which said my suitcase had arrived at 1:30 a.m. What a relief. I went down to the hotel front desk and collected my suitcase.
On the return trip, there was only one transfer, with a 70-minute layover. I made my way through Frankfurt Airport with time to spare and boarded the flight to Haneda.
At 8:10 a.m. on Friday, Japan time, I arrived at Haneda Airport. I had to leave immediately to attend an in-person meeting at Mita Campus starting at 10 a.m. However, an airline staff member smoothly approached me. "Your luggage has not arrived."
As one would expect from a Japanese airline, the process was swift. I filled out the delivery address for the suitcase and headed for Mita Campus, traveling light. However, the luggage didn't arrive at my home until two days later.
I've had luggage fail to arrive during a trip before, but having it lost on both the outbound and return journeys was a first. It seems the cause is that while travel demand in Europe has recovered rapidly, the number of airport workers has not sufficiently returned. It probably takes a long time to unload luggage from an arriving plane and load it onto the next one. Watching the news after returning to Japan, I saw reports that Haneda Airport is also understaffed. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are still lingering. I suppose mechanization and automation will increase from now on, but they haven't caught up yet.
Personally, the lesson learned is that things like changes of clothes and other items I pack in my suitcase "just in case" are things I can manage without in a pinch. And anything absolutely necessary can be kept in my carry-on bag or, if need be, procured locally. Having grown tired of thinking about it, the contents of my suitcase have steadily expanded, which means I'm carrying around a lot of unnecessary things on every trip.
After returning to Japan, I happened to see a TV program about Picasso's *Guernica*. *Guernica* is on display at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. An acquaintance who attended the same conference from Japan said they went to see it. Maybe I should have just forgotten about the suitcase and gone to see *Guernica*. Perhaps I missed a golden opportunity.
After this trip, I look around my room and sigh at all the unnecessary things I have. There are piles of books and documents that I think I might read someday. When I pick them up to throw them away, I find myself thinking that I might need them someday when I write something. I'm definitely past the halfway point of my life, so I need to start downsizing. I should travel light on the journey of life as well.