From California to Bali to Sydney to Java to Bali to Byron Bay... If only boxes could talk.

Oh, sweet, sweet joy. Four months and one day after I sent my box of clothes from Bali to Sydney, they were once again in my possession. Last week, shortly after writing my original post about the missing box, my friend Jen contacted me that she had just arrived back home to Bali after a month in the Philippines. She told me that she was able to have the Indo Post send the box to her local post office, and that she could pick it up as long as she had the original tracking information and a copy of the receipt. I dug up all the info and excitedly sent it her way, along with a Western Union transfer to cover the cost of picking up the box (they essentially were holding it for ransom), and sending it back my way.

Within hours, Jen had the box in her possession, and sent it express to the Byron Bay post office. For the next week, I held my breath in anticipation, nervous that something else would stitch up the whole process. The day after the tracking stated the box had been dispatched, there was an earthquake in Java. I had no idea if the parcel would be sent through Jakarta before heading to Australia, and thought this would be another big bump in the road. A few days later, I checked the tracking online for the 100th time, and to my surprise, the package had arrived in Australia!

It wasn’t at its final destination yet, but must have been going through customs in Sydney at the time. I anxiously waited for it to make its way up the coast to Byron Bay, hoping there were no other natural (or unnatural) disasters blocking me from reuniting with my clothes. I went to work on Wednesday morning, and by the time I finished, my mom texted me that she checked the tracking, which now said, “DELIVERED.”

I hurried into town and ran to the post office, fidgeting nervously as I waited in line. When I gave the worker my information and she brought out the tattered box, covered in plastic wrap and with scribbles of information all over, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Right in front of me, after all this time, stood my stuff! I almost cried as she handed it over to me, skipping out the door. I dumped out its contents in my car, smiling and laughing like a crazy person. Everything was accounted for and in perfect conditions, albeit a bit wrinkled and funky-smelling. The case of the missing box has been closed!