For the past week iaan and I have been very fortunate to travel through Germany. Over the coming week I’ll be shooting a wedding as well as a couple shoot here in München. But before I post some photos I wanted to share a little experience we had, that was not that fortunate and in plain english simply no fun! On the 18th of May, iaan and I left Cape Town, South Africa for München, Germany. We arrived at München airport, all excited to hit the city and see a few places before we left for Berlin the very next day. Iaan and I waited in the baggage claim area and as the people become less and the rotating bags remained the same, i realized, “this was not good”. I headed to the info desk, to enquire about our bags… the lady typed in a few codes and then she looked up at me. She then told me the bags never left johannesburg and was still in South Africa. So, for the first 72 hours of our trip to Germany, iaan and i didn’t have any luggage. Yes, you heard me, 3 days without luggage!

With the clothes on our backs, our laptops and my camera gear we traveled. And as you probably guessed, the European “spring” is nothing like South Africa’s. In my opinion it was still winter when we arrived…

During the “no luggage” period, iaan and I had some good laughs as we almost froze while walking the streets. It was actually really funny and an experience I’ll never forget. The funny thing is that we traveled all the way to Berlin without our luggage and it made the trip much easier. So with the bad, came some good :)

I believe you have to take the good out of it and learn as much as you can. In life we face many situations and if you look at them, you can probably learn a few lessons. Here is what I learned (these can be handy when traveling :) :

1. Always Backup: Always pack your toothbrush and one set of clothes in your backpack. You never know what’s going to happen with your luggage :)

2. Shortcuts are not always the better option: Never, and I say NEVER check luggage right through from Cape Town to an overseas destination when going through Johannesburg. Rather pick it up in J’burg and check in again.

3. Appreciate the little things: Those little samples of shampoo, shower gell and body cream in the hotel could become very handy!

4. Have faith: Even though everything inside of me thought things was going to be missing when I received my bag. Everything was still there.

…more photos of our trip coming soon :)