Oh, no!

For years, I’ve enjoyed traveling with my soft Vera Bradley luggage. Planes, trains, ships, cars – Vera and I have traveled together to all kinds of places. We both look rather worn, I must confess, but we travel so well together.
However, the new luggage restrictions for air travel (one checked item, one carry-on) caused me to make a change last week. The carry-on piece HAS to be my trusty laptop because it goes everywhere I go. And because I had a few breakables that needed protection, I went out into the garage and got a piece of more traditional luggage that I had never used. It even had a lock with keys still attached in a new package, and, unlike the Vera Bradley luggage, it was on wheels, a nice-almost-necessity for going through airport terminals.
I carefully packed everything I needed – and more – in that single piece of luggage and locked the bag as a safety precaution, just ‘cause I could. I had never locked the Vera Bradley stuff.
My biggest concern was being able to recognize my luggage at the baggage carousel in the airport. It’s black, just like the majority of other luggage on carousels all around the world.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted my black bag (onto which I had put a small personal piece of identification) at Reagan National in Washington, D.C. If nothing had broken or spilled inside, then this “new” luggage was terrific.
After The Dawg and I checked in, I realized my sigh of relief was short-lived.
The keys to the lock on my bag were back at home in South Carolina!