The Story of the Traveling Suitcase

Funny how a small, left out detail can alter four days. This is the story of my suitcase’s trip on the rails and how I managed with out it.

Friday was the day that I deadheaded from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Most know what deadheading is but let me tell you what this means for TD’s. We often have tours that leave from Fairbanks but we are in Anchorage or vice versa and in order to get in position we must spend 12 hours on the wonderful train. Don’t get me wrong, the McKinley Explorer (MEX) is a beautiful way to travel between Anchorage and Denali, an 8 hour trip and Denali to Fairbanks, a 4 hour journey. It is just rough to do it all in one day. We travel by rail because it doesn’t cost HAL anything since they already own the train cars. So we take the train, get paid minimum wage for 8 hours of it and receive 3 free meals. Thank goodness the MEX food is better then airplane food. Oh yeah, we aren’t “supposed” to sleep either, since we are being paid. As a TD you walk up to the Car Manager after the guests have loaded, check that they have room, store your suitcase in the small luggage compartment and find an empty seat. So this is how Friday started. When I handed my suitcase to the person in charge, I let her know that I was a TD and would be going all the way to Fairbanks and not to take my suitcase off in Denali. I went on and found a seat. Fortunately, another TD was deadheading that day so I had someone to hang out with. The train cars are notorious for not being able to regulate temperature evenly, so about 2 hours in I was freezing. I know, big surprise. So I went down and got my jacket which was strapped to the top of my suitcase. About 3 hours later we made a stop in Talkeetna and our car filled up, so JT and I had to change cars. At our stop in Denali, I got off quickly, to see my friend JM that was boarding to find out what car she was on, and then hopped back on, not even thinking to check on my bag. Finally, we arrive in Fairbanks. JT and I go to get our suitcases and mine is nowhere to be seen and she is missing one of her two. We speak to the train manager and he says that there were 2 bags they left in Denali because they weren’t claimed and didn’t have any ID on them. Well, mine had a tag from my favorite Montana travel agency and my business card, however, no ID saying Holland America or TD. I am not happy but think that I am rather lucky since I am not starting my tour until Sunday, so I should have my uniform by the time I need it. JT is only missing her large cosmetic case. We get settled into employee house (the Best Value hotel, about on par with a Motel 6) and head to WalMart to pick up the essentials for the next day.

Saturday, my Fairbanks supervisor has contacted my Denali supervisor and he is going to put it on the train that day. I head off for a free day; I go out to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks’ Museum of the North, and then go on the optional to Fort Yukon, just beyond the Arctic Circle. This is a tribal village of about 500 that faces huge temperature swings, cannot be accessed by road and looks a bit, okay a lot like a shanty town. The flight out was incredible, we flew over the White Mountains and then across the tundra. Amazing landscape. When I returned late that night, I checked the desk at the hotel and the desk at employee housing (BV) but no suitcase. JT is in the room when I get in and she says that the luggage never made it to any of our people at the train depot. Hmmm. The next morning, I head to the office check with my supervisor; she tells me the same thing about no one collecting it. So together we check all the places it might possibly in Fairbanks but to no avail. I head back to the BV, there I rifle through JT’s suitcase and borrow a shirt and vest to wear for my meet and greet and just hope that my clothes will arrive on the train that night. After a long day saying hello to the guests on my tour, I check with both my supervisor and the other person that was looking for our luggage to see if the train had it on board. The answer…NO. At this point no one has a clue where the suitcases are, we know they got on in Denali like they were supposed to and our best guess it that they were on their way back to Anchorage. Day 3 sans luggage wasn’t very eventful, though it looked like my new group was a good one. That evening though I got good news, the suitcase was located, it had arrived back in Denali and my supervisor there, wisely removed it from the train and put it in his trunk. The saga was over and in less then 24 hours I would be able to put on clean socks.

It is funny what you learn when your belongings go missing. I discovered that I could live easier without a change of clothes then my electronics chargers. My cell phones were dead, so were my camera, mp3 and computer. Very sad. It did give me a new sympathy for my guests that lose their luggage. My guests on this trip also took my ordeal to heart. When I saw them late in the afternoon the day we arrived in Denali, I was clean with my own products, had my makeup on and had something other then khakis and my borrowed uniform shirt. They all remarked, jokingly, how much better I looked. Oh yeah, and the small, left out detail; always get off the train to make sure the luggage gets back on and label it with Holland America TD.

So this probably a bit long for the story that it is, it certainly nothing like the ordeal my friend traveling in Europe is going through. She is currently on day 10 without luggage. This is just a bit about my life in Alaska. If you have any questions about something I’ve written or you were wondering about, please put it in the comment section or e-mail me.

Thanks for reading.

(Pic 1 - the rogue suitcase, Pic 2 - the outside of the rail car, Pic 3 - the bridge over Hurricane Gulch, Pic 4 - Hurricane Gulch)