For Christmas this year, my husband and I decide to forego getting gifts for each other and instead gifted our family a post-Christmas trip to Cambodia. Google maps estimates the drive to be six hours from our home in Bangkok to Siem Reap. Google maps is out of touch in this part of the world, but my husband is Clark Griswald when it comes to vacations.

“It’s a straight shot due east. The kids will be splashing in the pool before sundown,” he tells me.

Positive Patty orders some fancy straps and a tarp to fit all of our baggage on the roof of our small SUV. Recalling the time his parents lost his luggage off the roof of the car as a child and he spent a week’s vacation wearing his sister’s clothes and underwear, he boldly declares, “No way that’s going to happen to us. These are straps of steel!”

We leave at 7am. Everybody is shiny and caffeinated, especially the guy behind the wheel. About three hours into our trip, we hear the swishing flap of the tarp beating the side of the car and see its large silhouette waving at the blue sky in the rearview mirror.

My husband’s bag is gone.

My son’s bag falls off soon after.

Read more of this adventurous story at SheLoves Magazine