Traveling fun

4 pm EST

Charlotte, NC

Over 5 hours after we landed in Charlotte, I am now sitting on the tarmac on my new, re-routed itinerary.  The rest of the family left on time for Phoenix and should be home in the next couple of hours.  I, however, have not been as fortunate due to severe weather in Dallas and a cancelled flight. 

If I make it home to DFW tonight, it will have been via:

- 6 different flights belonging to 3 different airlines

- security screening in Cape Town, Joberg (twice!), Dulles, and Charlotte

- pulling my bag off the conveyor belt no less than 3 times

- 1 hour on hold with US airways and 3 different customer service representatives

- 2 different confirmation numbers (that I know of!)

- and 37 hours of travel

Other fun with numbers: when I re-checked my bag in Charlotte the ticket agent and I discovered that it weighs 57 lbs.  She was well into her questioning of how I got it on in the first place, and gearing up for a lecture on weight limits and airline policy.  But something either in the tears in my eyes or the fact that I was making it rain boarding passes showing where I has been in the last 30 hours made her relent, and  she concluded abruptly with "good luck and get some sleep" and an orange "heavy" tag slapped on without an extra charge.   Good thing too, because I had two contingency plans to make weight: a) Move a bunch of heavy books to my already overloaded backpack or b) Drink that bottle of wine!

I would probably be in a corner somewhere in the fetal position if it weren't for Thomas being my travel agent and encourager from Dallas and Drew and Elizabeth being on call to rescue me from Houston Intercontinental should the need arise.  So regardless of the outcome I get to see 1 or more of my favorite people tonight, and I will not spend a lonely evening with my overweight bag and wine on the floor in Charlotte!

And a thanks to Bob Funk from CCL-Phoenix, who made the original reservation and had apparently been getting hammer called with my flight updates from the airline.  He called to check on me and offered to help in any way he can, which was very kind.  I'm hoping I won't need any further help, but I'll be saving that number just in case!

It has been a wonderful trip, but over the last day and a half I've transitioned from somewhat ready to extremely ready for it to come to an end.