I spent 18 hours in transit in 4 airports with 2 kids and lost my luggage for 99 hours. Here are 5 lessons I learned about travel right now.

After giving up travel for two years amid the pandemic, these days, I prefer to push through obstacles when it comes to travel versus giving in to challenges.

I'm also a travel writer and a frequent traveler who follows aviation news closely. So when I decided to travel with my husband and 7-year-old twins to the little-known Caribbean island of Canouan, I was as prepared as possible for the likelihood of long, complicated journey right now.

While the remote island was not exceptionally far in distance from our home in Los Angeles, it's removed enough to necessitate three planes each way. 

But the return was particularly arduous — four airports, three flights, and more than 18 hours total transit time — and it taught me a few lessons I'll remember especially clearly next time I fly.

Here are my biggest takeaways I'll consider closely before planning my next trip.

Because our Caribbean island destination was off the beaten trail, our return trip went like this: a small propeller plane from St. Vincent and the Grenadines to an American Airlines connection in Barbados, through Miami, and then back home to Los Angeles.

When we got to Miami, about eight hours into our journey, we were already sweaty and exhausted but had to collect our checked luggage for customs, only to recheck it immediately for our final flight to Los Angeles.

This is standard procedure when traveling on a multi-leg international flight and it was not just a logistical inconvenience, but it also nearly caused us to miss our connection home. 

That's because even though the flight from Barbados to Miami was approximately on time, our luggage took well over an hour to make its way out to the carousel.

While I'd considered the possibility of a late flight causing a missed connection, it hadn't even occurred to me that luggage alone could do it. 

Our layover in Miami was about 2.5 hours long, and it ended up being long enough to clear this hurdle. But I definitely wouldn't allow for anything shorter than that when traveling back to the US with a layover from an international destination.

Going forward, I will remember that a longer layover buffer is useful when checking and rechecking luggage.

When we at last collected our luggage in Miami and rechecked it for the flight to Los Angeles, we then made a dash through the terminal to our gate.

It turned out we hadn't needed to run; our connecting flight was posting incremental delay after delay for a total of about two hours. The local time was about 9 p.m. and well after dinnertime for our grade-school twins.

My children were flagging at this point, especially my daughter who needed water. But at this point in the night, most of the concessions in the terminal were closing.

A kind cashier took pity on us and opened the register to sell us bottled water, but it was a good reminder that you can't always rely on airport concessions for essentials like food and water. 

When we got to the gate, I saw there were only limited grab-and-go meal and snack options nearby, so we made do with a makeshift dinner of sandwiches and candy.

It was enough to get by but hardly appetizing.

My family is extremely COVID-19 cautious, and we have managed to avoid the virus this long by taking precautions such as social distancing and wearing face masks. 

Although masks are no longer required by law in US airports or on airplanes, we prefer to travel wearing N95s for the adults and KN95s for the kids. I also travel with COVID-19 test kits, a pulse oximeter, a thermometer, and fever reducers for kids and adults, should any of us fall ill.  

While I can plan for my family in this way, I cannot control the behavior of people around me in the airport or on airplanes. 

For instance, I noticed that a woman seated next to my son in coach started coughing intensely for the entire descent of one of the legs of our journey. I worried she might share her germs with my family, but there was nothing we could do to escape at that point. 

In our experience traveling, we saw very few people wearing masks and I knew there was a chance that some people might fly while actively sick.

It made me uncomfortable, but I put my faith in high-quality masks and hoped for the best.

I didn't strategically pick my airlines when I booked this flight, but I learned the importance of doing so in the future.

For instance, when we flew the Panamanian airline Copa on our outbound flights from LAX, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the airline still required masks on domestic flights and in that country's airport. This was in accordance with Panama's federal law that requires masks on public transportation. It was a policy that happened to dovetail with our family's preferences and something I'll look for when I book travel again. 

Coincidentally, Copa was also named least-delayed airlines in the world prior to the pandemic, with an on-time performance of just under 90% and we had no issues with our flight.

While I got lucky with that outcome, I'll be sure to research these stats and policies before booking in the future if I have a choice of what airline to fly.

Opting for a specific airline can affect your flying experience in a major way. For me, it was mainly a matter of COVID-19 protocols, but I can also see how it might impact service, comfort, and timeliness.

Before checking our four bags in LA, I outfitted each one with an Apple AirTag. These are tiny GPS trackers that keep tabs on your gear using the Find My app. A four-pack of these cost under $100. This turned out to be a clutch move.

On our return, after three flights and 18-plus hours in transit, we finally arrived back in LA after 2 a.m. and were much worse for the wear.

Three of our checked bags sluggishly made their way to the carousel but a fourth did not. I pulled up the Find My app on my iPhone and located my bag 2,342 miles away in Miami. So instead of waiting futilely in the airport, we went home and got some desperately needed rest.

When I woke up a few hours later, I called American Airlines to officially make a claim for my delayed bag. Armed with the data from my app, I was able to speak to the agent with confidence and authority of my missing bag and its whereabouts. 

Knowing its location didn't help my bag reappear faster, but tracking it as it moved around the country did instill more confidence that I'd eventually reunite with it.

Ninety-nine hours later, it arrived at our home, delivered by a third-party courier arranged by the airline, and I was thankful I didn't have to wonder if it would actually show up since my intel let me know where it was at all times.

Our return trip was one of the most difficult travel days we've had, but compared with so many travel horror stories dominating the news right now, we could have fared far worse. At no point did we have to sleep on the airport floor, for instance, and I would definitely do it all over again.

For me, the stress of not traveling is far greater than the stress of just getting out there and exploring the world, or in my case, getting home.

I'll do it again, but I'll be prepared with long layovers on airlines I trust, and arrive equipped with snacks, bag tags, and my face mask.