Frankfurt Book Fair: Sunday - Going Home

A Problem with Packing and Shipping Materials

How is it that I did not notice until now that the zipper to my suitcase is completely busted? It is 10 minutes before my taxi arrives at the hotel to take me to the airport, and as I flip over the top of my fully jammed suitcase and go to zip it up, I see that the zipper-gripper thing has come completely detached from the zipper teeth. And there is no way to jam it back on.

Panicking only slightly, I call down to the front desk and instantly a very helpful woman with multiple rolls of duct tape is at my door. We struggle with my case, and do the best we can to tape the darn thing closed.

With the help of the cab driver and the duct tape lady we manage to get my suitcase out of the hotel and into the cab.  But something tells me this is just not going to "fly" so to speak, when I get to Frankfurt Airport Security.

Unlike Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark - airports I tried to avoid except when absolutely necessary - Frankfurt Airport is a bastion of civilization with an entire shopping mall at your disposal. And everyone is open and ready for business on this early Sunday morning! What luck! I discover a Tumi store and within about 10 minutes I am the happy owner of a pricey but very lovely new piece of luggage.


I am clearly not the only one who has ever had a luggage disaster at the airport, and the sales people are nicely set up to help you unload the old case and fill up the new one.

Catastrophe averted and I still have time to enjoy a coffee in the company of my lovely new suitcase!