If your luggage has ever gone missing after a flight, it can be pretty annoying.
You might face wearing the same pair of pants for a few days. But spare a thought for this guy.
Peter Messervy-Gross flew from Heathrow to Mongolia for a four-day-long, 100 mile ultra marathon across snow and ice.
Peter, 47, from Jersey, landed safely in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, but unfortunately, his bags did not.
The dad-of-three was initially told that his bags would turn up in time for the race two days later but as the day approached, he still didn’t have his kit.
He said: ‘When we arrived in Mongolia there were five bags missing – my large holdall and four other people’s bags.
‘It was absolute carnage trying to find out where they were, but everyone seemed pretty confident they would turn up, so I wasn’t worried.
‘At that point, we had two days until race day but the Rat Race founder Jim, suggested I buy some running shoes just in case.’
Facing the race with nothing but the clothes he arrived in, he did get some extra thermals but he wasn’t able to find any shoes to fit his size 13 feet. The largest size he found was a size 11.
Wearing his jeans, brogues, a hoody and a light puffer jacket, Peter and his fellow adventurers then took a two-hour bus ride to camp.
But Peter, an information officer for a global administration firm, said he was ‘gutted’ when he realised his bag would not be arriving.
Peter – originally from Auckland, New Zealand, said: ‘It was a heartbreaking moment for me, very gutting because you can’t really run 100 miles across a frozen lake in brogues.
‘I spent that night in camp in a duvet but it was freezing.
‘Jim sorted me out with some expedition rations and an emergency survival bag.
‘I had a toothbrush on me but no deodorant, toilet roll, soap or wipes.
‘People were amazing, offering up stuff for me to use, which was incredible because it meant by giving things to me, they were worse off.
‘My friend Marcus gave me another set of thermals, another guy gave me some socks, someone else handed me a balaclava – I was a walking charity shop.’
His fellow runners tried to help him out where they could but without any other shoes, he was forced to clamber across the ice in his leather brogues he usually wears for work.
He suffered agonising blisters but still managed to complete the race, organised by UK firm Rat Race Adventure Sports across the Khovsgol Nuur lake, in four days.
Peter added: ‘When you run a race like that your feet swell because you’re on them for so long – I literally became too big for my boots.
‘It did get pretty uncomfortable, my feet blistered really badly and especially on my little toes, which was quite painful.
‘One of the guys there had a pair of giant Mongolian fur boots that the locals wear.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to walk long distances in them, but I parked them at the first stage so that I could pull out of the race if I needed to and put them on.
‘But I just wanted to keep plodding along – I couldn’t really feel the cold in my feet during the day, it was more discomfort than anything else.’
And his bag did eventually turn up – 15 minutes before check-in for his return home.
He said: ‘I never found out what happened to my bag, but after I told my family was happened they were all so proud of me for carrying on. I’m so glad I stuck it out.
‘My shoes held up surprisingly well – I’m just a bit allergic to putting the things on now.’
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