If you’re a little irresponsible, consider these solutions

Storytime: After traveling by carry-on only for summer 2022 and being someone who tries to keep going as much as possible, I finally bought a few Apple AirTags during the Black Friday 2022 sales. And I’m SO grateful I did. My normal carry-on bag was too big to meet Lufthansa’s baggage requirements (and BOY, do they check that!), so I had to check my bags for a December 2022 trip to Vienna and return from Prague (with a stopover in Frankfurt). My bag did not arrive on the plane in Frankfurt, and once it landed in Newark, New Jersey, I opened the app on my phone and saw that yes, my AirTag backpack was indeed with me, but my AirTag suitcase was still in Germany.. (The screenshot is from an Amazon review, but you get the gist.) The AirTag also helped me track FedEx delivery of the suitcase to my parents’ house, where I was passing vacation immediately after the end of my trip to Europe. I was even able to see him on a highway less than an hour’s drive from my parents’ house. TL;DR: I think AirTags are a very worthwhile investment if you travel several times a year. And I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Promising results: “I bought a pair of these AirTags for a trip to France, and I’m very glad I did! First of all, the setup is super simple. I had no problems and both were done in about five minutes I put one in my purse and one in my suitcase On the way back, the airline lost my luggage. I checked the Find My Friends app where l. ‘AirTag is tracked, and I could see that it had never left Charles de Gaulle Airport. I felt more assured being able to track my bag via the app as it traveled across the world. 10/10 would recommend it to me” —Lindsay Kirby.

Get it from Amazon for $24.