Baggage Insight

There is one main reason I’ve been blogging less than I would have liked to on my current US trip. Instead of blogging, I’ve been devoting my daily writing energy to write a daily email to my wife.

This is an adaptation of my story from last Sunday, which was spent travelling from Newark to Indianapolis (where I spoke at the INFORMS Analytics+ Conference). She replied saying “you seem to have had quite an adventure, like in the movies”, and I decided it was blogworthy. And so here goes.

For some background, I’d got invited to speak at the INFORMS Analytics+ Conference in Indianapolis last weekend. I wanted to travel from New York to Indianapolis on Sunday, but when I had trouble finding tickets for the day, my cofounder casually suggested “why don’t you fly to Cincinnati and drive?”. And I did some weird calculation in my head, assumed that the drive was 45 mins long (rather than the 1 hour 45 minutes it took), and booked off.

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For whatever reason I’d assumed that my hotel in Newark (Holiday Inn Newark Airport) might be okay to hold my luggage for me overnight, as I went to Indianapolis and returned. And so packed my backpack accordingly. When the hotel refused to take my luggage for overnight, I hurriedly repacked, moving EVERYTHING to my suitcase and making my backpack light.

This also meant that I couldn’t prebook my luggage, and checked in my bag “ad hoc” (for $40) at the airport.

In any case, 6th April 2025 turned out to be a day of firsts for me.

• First ever time in non-coastal US

• First ever time in the midwest

• First ever domestic flight in the US

• First ever car drive in the US

• First time ever an airline didn't transport my luggage

It was some weird thing I’d not heard before - apparently the weight balance of my flight (a Bombardier from Newark to Cincinnati) was off so they didn't load my luggage. I don’t know if it had to do with the fact that I’d not prebooked my luggage. Also, it’s possible that I was the only passenger in Economy to check in package that day.

In any case my bag did not arrive. I had got an SMS from United about my bag having been received, with a link to track it. The tracking confirmed my fears - the bag was still in Newark. It was time to ask for support.

At first I was surprised that the lady at the United Baggage Services desk was so cheerful and seemingly helpful, when I reported my bag hadn't arrived. Then she said "oh we'll bring it to you", and took my hotel address and told me to call one number after 20 minutes.

Then I went to the Sixt rental place. The lady there again was over friendly and cheerful. And that's when it hit me - this is the midwest! And people there are especially friendly!

Another stupidity - I had one lightning to USB-A cable, which I decided "I won't need" and put off in my suitcase. Which didn't arrive. That meant there was no way for me to connect to CarPlay! Where would I see maps? And there was no way to charge my phone while I drove, and used Google Maps.

And for whatever reason I drove off from the airport parking lot thinking I'll adjust stuff later - the music, the AC, my seat, everything. I had not realized that in the US you can't randomly stop like you do in India. And after one or two, there were NO signals for a very very long time!

Speaking of signals, I saw the direction that said "turn left in 450m". And I saw one signal 450 meters away and started rushing towards that - and I didn't realize there was one more signal in the middle that I almost jumped (there was no traffic, thankfully). And I put suddenly brake. That apart I drove properly only all the way. The other side is not that difficult, though I kept looking sometimes in other directions for directions, mirror, etc!

At one signal I managed to make Google Maps speak out loud - something I keep turned off in Bangalore. That meant I could just listen and drive. And it was funny to hear an Indian female voice give me directions here. And using metric units!

I just kept listening to Google Maps and driving. At one point it said "go on this road for another 100km". And that's when I thought I'll take a break, adjust everything properly, call United and maybe get some coffee and go. I missed the first two break spots, which seemed to have some good restaurants and coffee places (remember it was past 1:30 PM now, and I hadn't eaten lunch).

I turned off at the third spot, and here there was NOTHING. It led me off on one village road, and Google Maps started giving me random directions. Anyway in a little bit I found a petrol bunk and parked there and did all the adjustments. AC temperature. Seat. Music. Mobile into low battery mode. Took off jacket. And all that. and then I called United.

After talking for a long time the guy at the other end said there is a flight to Indianapolis at 1630 on which they would try and send my bag. Then I drove on. All the while there was massive spitty rain. My umbrella and cap were also in the suitcase - the forecast had said no rain in Indianapolis, and so I’d put them in!

Driving on American freeways can be damn boring, especially when you are alone. The biggest task while driving was to keep myself alert - since there was no one with me to keep talking to me to make sure i’m awake.

Anyway I drove straight on without lunch, and got to my hotel at 315. At checkin I asked if there was a mall or something nearby. And the guy said "yes, 4 blocks away. If it doesn't rain, you can walk there".

I got to my room, relaxed for 5 minutes and then went (by car). There was no connection betwen the mall parking and the mall. And despite big boards around I just couldn't find the mall!! Some bizarrre stuff. Anyway I was hungry, and first I went into one very fancy Steakhouse. Steaks for $70 and stuff. Not my kind of stuff.

I walked out to a cheap steakhouse across the road, and had a "double cheeseburger without buns". I was hungry I know but it was very very yummy.

By then I called United again and found that the bag had been loaded into the Indianapolis flight as promised. And it was getting late for some networking event at the conference I'd been invited to. So I just decided that it's okay if I've sweated in these clothes, I can just take a shower and go. and so I did that.

There were drinks and hummus. Like I usually do, I took a glass of wine and spoke to a few people. In a bit I seemed to get into form in terms of talking. And then they asked us all to sit down for some speech.

Lack of sleep. Stress. Tiredness. All put together. I put the wine glass on the table but not properly. The whole thing spilled!! And on my bag. Thankfully the Wildcraft bag is good, and the wine was on the outside only. One waiter brought me a towel and replaced my chair (on which I'd kept my bag). And I cleaned up. During the talk I ate some hummus.

That got over. I saw that the bag has arrived in Indianapolis. And I was tired and came back to the room. There was no energy to go anywhere for dinner, so I just went to the hotel bar. The beer in Indianapolis was good (unlike that in New York). I had a sandwich with short ribs which was good as well. As were the fries.

I had hoped that by the time I finished dinner, the bag might have arrived. It hadn’t. Tired, I simply went to bed. Sometime later I heard some really loud banging on my room door. when I peeped through the peephole, there was no one. I opened the door anyways, and found my bag waiting for me.

Earlier that evening, at the networking event, at least three people had seen my badge and read the name of my company as “Baggage Insight”. Given my travails of the day, I guess that wasn’t very inaccurate.