I recently took a trip to Europe for my grad program. I packed a big suitcase and, lulled by a long long string of flawless handling, stupidly put my laptop in it. The airline(s) promptly lost my bag, leaving me without computer or clothes. I may here add that I spoke the local language quite badly.

I happened to mention this to redhouse in private communication, and it turned out he had an aunt in that city. He sent her all the details, and she not only spent an entire morning with the airline talking (in their own language) about my bag, she then had me come to her house and drove me to the airport, where she very forcefully pressed on them the seriousness of the situation and demanded details and prompt resolution.

Quite a bit more time passed, but ultimately my bag was found, to my great relief. Not only that, but in the meantime my mind was much more at rest that I had not left a stone unturned with the national airline. So anyway, it's great to have such a wonderful network of friends, and I just wanted to publicly thank redhouse and his aunt.