On June 24, 2024, our group tour was speeding through the Swiss Alps on the Glacier Express, marveling at the rushing river and cascading waterfalls as rain pelted the windows. Shortly after departing, an announcement came: an avalanche just outside our departure city, Zermatt, had closed all road traffic. Unfortunately, our luggage was not on the train; it was on a truck stranded in Zermatt. We were headed to Lucerne; our luggage was not.

Arriving for a two-night stay with the luggage’s arrival date unknown, we unpacked and found that important items – including medicine and chargers – were in our roller bags. With the assistance of one of the tour directors, we immediately hit the pharmacies to obtain our medicines. Having our prescription data accessible on our cellphones via MyChart made the task easier than expected (several drugs were over-the-counter in Switzerland), but I needed a prescription for 81mg aspirin. The quest requiring two different pharmacies to complete was complicated by torrential rains (the hotel’s umbrella notwithstanding), soaking what we now figured would be our clothing for the foreseeable future. The hotel had chargers and toilet articles. We carefully kept all receipts; reimbursement from the trip-insurance company covered a significant portion, but not all, of the expenses.

The situation had its light moments. It was amusing to see our fellow travelers – at breakfast in the hotel, on the walking tour of the city, gondolas up Mount Pilatus, and a rainy Lake Lucerne cruise – dressed in the same clothing throughout our stay. I’ve been packing dry-fast t-shirts for my travels; my gray New Balance shirt was washed in the sink each night and dried with a hair dryer when needed. We also purchased underwear from H&M; everything else was worn multiple days.

After departing for Basel (on the bus that had just transported the Swiss women’s World Cup team), some fellow passengers shouted that their AirTags indicated their luggage was on the move! Shortly thereafter, we were informed our luggage would meet us on the boat, where we would embark on a Rhine River cruise to Amsterdam.

Frederick J. Nachman is a Nomadic Spirit reader, a retired corporate communications/investor relations consultant, avid photographer, and die-hard Chicago White Sox fan. His photography is displayed at www.flickr.com/photos/brulelaker.