My rolling duffel got stuck in a mud puddle in Dublin Airport parking lot

Last spring I was flying out of Dublin to Istanbul for a 10 day trip, and it started pouring rain as I walked from the car to the terminal. My carry-on rolling duffel (a cheap one I'd had for years) tipped over into a huge mud puddle, soaking the bottom half right through the fabric. I had no choice but to grab everything out in the terminal bathroom, wipe it down with paper towels, and repack using ziploc bags I luckily had for toiletries. The worst part was that my spare shoes were muddy and I had to wear them on the plane. Has anyone else had a bag disaster right before boarding that forced you to rethink your whole packing system?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamieburns5d agoMost Upvoted

and that's exactly why I switched to a hard shell suitcase with a waterproof zipper after a similar mess. Like, you dry everything off and then your stuff still smells like mud for the whole trip. My move now is to always carry a couple of heavy duty trash bags in the bottom of my bag, not just for laundry but also for emergencies like this. Also, I started keeping a spare pair of shoes in a dry bag inside my carry on, so if the main bag gets wrecked you're not stuck wearing wet socks through security.

shane_moore871d ago

Yeah but nobody ever talks about the inside of the suitcase itself. After water gets in, the lining and padding hold moisture forever. Even if you dry everything out, that fabric liner stays damp and starts to mildew. I had a hard shell bag with a waterproof zipper and still ended up with a musty smell because the interior lining soaked up water from the outside. Took weeks to air out. Now I just spray the whole inside with waterproofing spray before every trip. Works way better than relying on the zipper alone.