Our first day started on a warm Saturday morning with four girls, five suitcases, and four backpacks 🎒—ready to begin our 17-hour journey to Italy!

There would be plane rides ✈️, ferry rides ⛴️, cab rides 🚕, and eventually a winding ride all the way to the top of the beautiful island of Capri.
We arrived in Napoli right on time, excited and ready to begin our Italian adventure.
Except for one tiny little detail…
Our luggage didn’t arrive with us. 😳
All five suitcases had apparently decided to take their own Italian vacation and were delayed in Amsterdam!
But not to worry, we were told. As long as we had our luggage claim tags and gave them our itinerary for the next four days, our luggage would find us.
Really?
Even on the island of Capri?
Apparently so!
GiGi Travel Note: Never, ever throw away your luggage claim tags! I will be keeping mine forever from now on. 😅❣️

With nothing but our backpacks and what we had worn on the plane, we did a little emergency necessities shopping in Napoli and boarded the ferry to Capri with our backpacks and shopping bags in tow.
And that was when our first unexpected lesson of Italy began.
Sometimes you can spend so much time worrying about what you’ve lost that you miss what is right in front of you.
And what was in front of us was Capri! 🇮🇹❣️
When Life Gives You Lost Luggage…Go Shopping! 🛍️😉
Capri was exquisite.
It was also an amazing place to see how native Italians dress, dine, shop, and vacation. We adored every minute of being on this beautiful island.
Each afternoon around 4:30, we would head back to our rooms to get ready for the evening.
As the sun began to set, the streets of Capri came alive. Italians filled the walkways dressed from head to toe in beautiful Italian vacation wear.
And since our lovely evening clothes were somewhere between Amsterdam and Capri…
We had some shopping to do! 😉
Our days became a wonderful combination of exploring, shopping for evening attire, eating delicious Italian food, and simply enjoying being together.
And I began to realize that maybe our missing luggage wasn’t going to ruin our time after all.
Maybe it was simply going to become part of our story.
Something Special for Tyla Lu 💕
There was one thing GiGi especially wanted to do on this trip.
I wanted to find something special for Tyla that she could keep and someday look at and remember:
“GiGi took me to Italy when I became a teenager.”
One day, we stepped into the Louis Vuitton shop on Capri and found just the perfect thing.
A vintage-style LV canvas purse 👛❣️
It was the perfect size, the perfect color, and had just the right strap for Tyla Lu.

Of course, we couldn’t stop there.
We found matching Birkenstocks with the LV logo on the straps. 💕
I could already imagine Tyla years from now pulling out that little purse and remembering Capri.
But I hope what she remembers most isn’t what GiGi bought her.
I hope she remembers how much GiGi loved being there with her.
Things eventually wear out. Styles change. Shoes get too small.
But the time we intentionally give to the people we love becomes part of who they are.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” — Matthew 6:21
My treasure wasn’t really in that little purse.
My treasure was walking beside me. ❣️

The Blue Grotto 💙
Of course, no visit to Capri would be complete without seeing the famous Blue Grotto.
When we arrived at the dock, however, we discovered a two-to-three-hour line just to get on a boat—and then possibly another long wait once we reached the grotto.
Hmmmm…
There had to be another way!
So instead, we arranged a private tour.
What could have taken most of our day became an incredible 90-minute adventure.
And the Blue Grotto was every bit as beautiful as we had imagined. 💙❣️💙
The brilliant blue water seemed almost impossible to describe.
There are moments when I see something so magnificent in God’s creation that I can’t help but think about the Creator.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” — Psalm 19:1

From Idaho mountains to the brilliant blue waters inside a cave on an Italian island, His fingerprints are everywhere.
An Italian Evening We Will Never Forget 🎶🇮🇹
One evening, the owner of a shop where we had purchased a few items—okay, maybe more than a few 😉—treated us to a reservation at an elegant Italian restaurant.
It became one of our favorite meals of the entire trip. 😋💕
But the ending was the best part.
Suddenly the restaurant filled with loud Italian music.
Out came maracas and tambourines!
Before we knew it, everyone was waving their napkins in the air as “Bamboleo” by the Gipsy Kings filled the restaurant. 🎶

We laughed.
We sang.
We waved those napkins.
And for that moment, four girls from Idaho weren’t worrying about lost luggage or tomorrow’s itinerary.
We were simply enjoying exactly where we were.
And Then…Our Luggage Arrived! 🧳❣️
On our fourth morning in Capri, the impossible happened.
Our luggage found us!
All the way from Amsterdam to Napoli, across the water, and up to the island of Capri.
And wouldn’t you know it?
It arrived about one hour before we were scheduled to leave Capri and board another ferry for our next adventure in Positano on the Amalfi Coast. 😍❣️
We had to laugh.
For four days we had wondered:
Where are those suitcases?
And then, just as we were leaving…
There they were!
God doesn’t promise that every inconvenience will disappear when we want it to. But He does teach us that our joy doesn’t have to depend on everything going according to our plans.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:18
We could have spent four days frustrated about what we didn’t have.
Instead, we discovered how much we already had.
We had Capri.
We had beautiful food.
We had the Blue Grotto.
We had Italian music and waving napkins.
We had shopping bags full of emergency Italian attire. 😉
But most importantly…
We had each other.
GiGi’s Life Lesson 💕
Sometimes the adventures we remember most aren’t the ones that go perfectly.
They’re the ones where something goes completely wrong—and we decide to make something wonderful out of it anyway.
Our lost luggage taught us to adapt, laugh, make the most of a tough situation, and enjoy the blessing right in front of us.
We learned how to shop like the natives.
We learned how to vacation like the Italians.
And maybe most importantly, Tyla and I learned something worth remembering long after those suitcases finally made it home:
Don’t let what you’re missing keep you from being grateful for what God has already given you.

And just like that…
Four girls, five suitcases, and four backpacks were off again.
Next stop: Positano and the Amalfi Coast! 🇮🇹❣️
GiGi Will L💝VE You Forever & LIKE You for Always
Proverbs 17:6 💝
Wonderful story, Gigi! 💜