My mom and I went to Mexico, but her suitcase went to India. Now, there's one travel mistake we'll never make again.

• My mom and I went on a trip to Mexico. My luggage arrived, but hers went to India.
• We later realized the tags on her luggage had been swapped with ones for someone going to Dehli.
• She bought new essentials (and got reimbursed by the airline), but now we always check luggage tags.

Touching down in Puerto Vallarta, my mom and I were ready for a few days of beachy relaxation and margaritas.

As we approached the baggage carousel, I spotted my suitcase right away. However, as we waited for my mom's small pink bag to appear, the crowd thinned, and our anxiety grew.

Bag after bag circled past us, but hers was nowhere to be found. After the carousel stopped, an airport employee directed us to the lost luggage counter, where we hoped for a quick resolution.

Instead, we were presented with an enormous black suitcase with my mom's luggage tickets attached. Confused, we opened it to find clothes and belongings that definitely weren't hers.

At that moment, it was clear something had gone very, very wrong.

My mom's bag was taking its own vacation

With the help of the airport staff, we started digging into the mix-up while filing the standard "mishandled item report."

Once I reached into my purse and pulled out the luggage-tag stickers the Phoenix-based crew at American Airlines had handed me — the papers I mindlessly stuff into my bag on every trip without a glance — I realized the mistake.

My mom's sticker didn't have her name on it at all. Instead, it bore a completely different one with a destination that made my stomach drop: Delhi, India.

It was all starting to make sense. When we had checked in for our flight, a staff member must've accidentally swapped the luggage tags, sending my mom's pink suitcase halfway across the world.

In return, we had received the luggage of an unsuspecting traveler headed to India.

Now, my mom's bag was thousands of miles from Mexico, and some poor traveler bound for Dehli was about to learn the fate of their own.

On the bright side, my mom got a free shopping spree

After the initial frustration wore off, we realized there was nothing to do but make the best of the situation.

Fortunately, American Airlines assured us they would cover the cost of replacing everything my mom needed for our trip.

We spent our afternoon assembling a makeshift vacation wardrobe and rebuying her essentials, from tops and sandals to undergarments and a curling iron.

We kept and submitted the receipts, and the airline came through on its promise a few weeks later, reimbursing all $601.08 we'd spent.

We both learned a travel lesson we'll never forget

Meanwhile, my mom's suitcase made its grand journey to Delhi and back, finally landing back home in Phoenix about a week later.

This experience taught me a lesson I won't forget: Always check the luggage stickers the airline hands you before walking away from the counter.

I take more than 50 flights a year, and I had never once thought to verify that the name and destination on the tag actually matched my own.

Now, I double-check every time because, as we learned the hard way how one small mix-up can send your suitcase on a separate journey you may be jealous of!