US tourists return home from Edinburgh but are devastated when they check AirTag
An Edinburgh tourist who visited Scotland for a golfing holiday returned home to the US with his clubs still over 3,000 miles away in the Scottish capital.
Eric Budny was visiting Scotland at the end of August for a golfing trip and had planned to play another round in Dublin with a flight connecting the Irish capital to his home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
However when the 33-year-old and his dad arrived in Ireland, their clubs were nowhere to be seen and after checking the AirTag in their bag, they could see they were still in Edinburgh.
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The mishap left a "sour taste in the mouth" for Eric who had enjoyed the trip to Scotland. However, he is now desperately trying to find out why his and his dad's clubs were not loaded onto the Ryanair plane prior to takeoff on September 2.
Eric, a keen golfer who has played a round in 50 different US states, said: "We went over for a golf trip and had an amazing time in Scotland. Unfortunately the trip ended this way and left a bad taste in our mouth.
"Flight availability back to the states meant it made sense to fly out of Dublin so we thought we would just jump over to Ireland and play a round of golf over there. But then of course we land and they aren't there.
"There was actually another passenger on the same flight whose golf bag didn’t make it either."
Once he realised his clubs were missing, Eric filled out a baggage claim form with Ryanair online but claims he has not heard back from the airline and does not know how or when he will be reunited with his clubs.
The pair also had a tea time booked at the Royal Dublin course which could not be refunded so they were forced to pay to rent clubs and appropriate clothing which Eric admitted was a "depressing" end to an enjoyable time in Scotland.
He continued: "I'm actually sort of a golf traveller and have been all over the US in the past few years. I lived in an RV for a year and played at least one round in every state in the US.
"I have been traveling around the US over the last couple of years but I was so ready to get back to Scotland. A buddy and I went to Scotland in 2017 on a trip and the second I left I knew I wanted to come back.
"My dad is retired and had never been to the UK and is also a big golfer. Timing worked out to do a late August trip and it matched up well with the women’s open at the old course. So we got in on the Sunday morning of the open and watched the women play which was great.
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"Then we played Cruden Bay. Spent some time in Inverness and played Fortrose and Rosemarkie, Castle Stuart and Royal Dornoch. Then we won the ballot on the old course for Friday so drove back down and got an absolutely perfect day in St. Andrews.
"The weather was perfect and it was the perfect day. We stayed in Dundee for a few days and then spent a day in Edinburgh exploring and checked out the Port of Leith Distillery."
Eric and his dad enjoyed an "amazing" week until they touched down in Dublin to find their clubs missing. According to Eric, the clubs are sentimental and custom made with some family ties in the build.
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He added: "It was just an amazing week and it felt too good to be true. Sure enough it was. We landed in Dublin last Monday and the clubs just didn’t get put on the plane.
"We already had a tee time booked at Royal Dublin that was pretty pricey and we couldn’t get a refund so we ended up going without our clubs. There was also some clothing missing that was in the golf travel bag so we had to pay to rent clubs and some crappy used shoes.
"We tried to make the best of the day but it was a pretty depressing end to the trip. My dad and I also have some custom made putters with some family ties in the build of them and they are one-of-a-kind and can never be replaced so I'm really hoping we can find a way to get this stuff back to us."
Ryanair and Swissport have been contacted for comment.