The Great Pink Luggage Tragedy

The Great Pink Luggage Tragedy

🌼 Date: Monday, April 6, 2026

⚡ Energy: Sleepy and Slightly Frozen

💔 Status: Forced Off the Ship

😒 Outlook: Homeward Bound (With a Minor Casualty)

Today was travel day, which in cruise terms means one thing: getting kicked off the ship at the butt crack of dawn.

For reasons I will never fully understand, cruise ships seem to think that vacationers who have spent the last several days relaxing should immediately switch back into real-life mode at 8:00 AM sharp.

So up we got.

We had an Uber scheduled to pick us up at 9:00 AM at the pier, figuring it would take a while to get off the ship, locate our luggage, and make our way through customs.

But today, the travel gods were smiling on us.

We breezed through the whole process and were standing outside the terminal by 8:30 AM.

Which would have been fantastic… if it hadn’t been so unbelievably cold.

Apparently Texas decided to throw us one last surprise before we left.

Even with my trusty black scarf wrapped around my head, neck, and face, I was shivering like crazy. Casey and Marnie ended up sitting on one side of the bench acting as human wind blockers while I pressed my back against them trying to steal as much body heat as possible.

That was possibly the slowest 30 minutes of my life.

Once the Uber arrived, though, the rest of the travel day actually went pretty smoothly.

Despite all the recent horror stories about the Texas airport security lines, we barely had to wait at all. By the time the people in front of us grabbed their belongings from the bins, we were already sliding ours through.

Easy.

And yes… once again we were the mean parents flying first class while the rest of the group flew in economy.

Some traditions must be maintained.

Everything went perfectly until we landed in Portland and went to collect our luggage.

That’s when we discovered the tragedy.

My hot pink suitcase, the one that had bravely survived countless flights, road trips, train rides, and cruises… now had a giant hole in the side.

We’re talking hard-sided luggage here. This thing had been through battle and survived it all.

Until now.

My knight in shining armor walked the wounded bag over to the airline counter and started the claim process. Now, I’ll admit, I wasn’t overly optimistic. We’ve been through this before with luggage casualties, which is exactly why we switched to hard-sided bags in the first place.

So imagine my surprise when we left the airport with a claim number, a brochure, and a promise of an email in 2–3 days… and by the time we got home, the email had already arrived.

I was able to choose from several replacement bags.

Sadly, none of them were pink.

But I did find a pretty fabulous black suitcase, and it’s actually a little bigger than my beloved pink one.

It should arrive sometime this week.

And since I refuse to live a boring luggage life, I immediately went on Amazon and found some leopard print luggage covers with matching tags.

These things are actually pretty cool. They slide over your suitcase almost like a sock and zip underneath near the wheels. They come in different sizes depending on your bag, and the ones I found are under $20.

So while my pink warrior suitcase may be gone…

A leopard print upgrade might be in my future.

I know I’m officially a senior now, but apparently even luggage technology has gotten fancy in the last few years.

💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time