Sorry about the lack of updates. Really, it's not my fault. For this, I blame United Airlines.
You see, I have a particular type of bad luck. It's the type where the more stressed out you are, the more bad things happen to you. For example, last month we wanted to take a roadtrip, but my husband's vehicle was deemed unsafe to drive by our mechanic until certain repairs are done. That kind of sucks, but no big deal, we figured, we'll just take the ultimate housewife vehicle: our minivan. So we start driving it and not even 10 minutes in to the trip, all of the warning lights come on. We take it to a mechanic, but because it was a weekend, he couldn't get the part for 3, maybe 4 days. Roadtrip cancelled.
For my trip to Florida, I was already stressed from travelling. I love travelling by airplane, really I do. It's the TSA that gives me major anxiety. Every time I fly, they've come up with new rules, new "security" measures, new ways to invade my privacy and control my life. At least they force everyone to take their shoes off at the security clearance, so I didn't get weird looks for being barefoot. That aside, they make me nervous. To make things worse, I had to go through customs at the Calgary airport. More rules, more restrictions, more reason to be nervous. I got through ok and made my flight on time. I had a connection in Chicago which I had a one hour layover for, so I wasn't too worried about making that flight either. However, when I landed in Jacksonville, I found out my suitcase was still in Chicago. Awesome! Since this is a pretty regular occurrence for me, I got smart after the first time it happened and back a 3 day survival kit as my carry-on bag. Score 1 for me. 2 days later, my suitcase showed up at my door. Technically they only have 24 hours to get the bag back to me, so I was a little annoyed, but whatevs. I had my clothes. I was happy.
On the way back to Canada from Florida, I got to the airport 5 hours early for my flight. Due to weather delays, it didn't take off until 8 hours later. I ended up missing my connection in Chicago. No big deal, I'll just go to customer service and have them put me on the next flight. What's that? You're going to Canada? Our next flight isn't until tomorrow morning and all the hotels are full. There's a bench over there that you can sleep on. Here's a few crappy blankets that aren't sufficiently warm to keep you from freezing to death from our ridiculously cold and completely unnecessary air conditioning. Use you backpack as a pillow.
After sleeping on a bench in Gate C18 of Chicago O'Hare, I had a standby ticket to Calgary and a krick in my neck. I made the standby flight by some miracle and arrive in Calgary around the same time my husband had to be at work. I'd let him know that I had made the standby flight and what time I would be arriving and he assured me he was on his way. When I landed in Calgary and turned my phone back on, I had a few texts from him saying his work was not going to let him leave to come get me. Apparently when you work for your family, saying you have a family emergency isn't an acceptable excuse. So I was stranded in Calgary without enough money for a ticket to Edmonton. I was already extremely angry and stressed as I deplaned. Teary-eyed, I walked to the baggage claim to collect my suitcase. An hour later, I found out it was still in freaking Chicago! Congratulations, United Airlines, you have done it again! Don't worry, we'll have the bag back to you by tonight and we'll make sure it will go to your house in Edmonton. Dad, can you please pick me up from the Calgary airport? My mother-in-law left me stranded.
I waited in the airport for 4 hours for my dad, then we made the 3 hour drive to Edmonton. Mother-in-law pretended like nothing happened and my suitcase still wasn't there. It didn't show up the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Finally, after emailing and calling customer service like crazy, someone called me to say that my suitcase had finally showed up in Edmonton, but it was missing all its tags, so could I please give a description of the suitcase? I finally got it back around 8:45 last night, a full five days since I left Florida. Am I angry? Oh, yeah I'm angry.
Now that you know the reason for my lack of photo updates, please excuse me for my first martial arts lesson. I'll be back with pics later today.
