Back from my world tour....

...my luggage, unfortunately, is not.

The trip itself (first to Michigan, then to NJ) was great. I had a wonderful time with friends back home and with my family. I got to spend 5 full days, 24/7, with my nieces and nephews (well, Katey's tribe, anyway), which was both incredibly rewarding and incredibly exhausting. I got to experience their first plane ride (they did GREAT, and Tyler's pure joy was truly touching to see--"I'm so excited!!!!!" he kept exclaiming during the flight), their first trip to the ocean, 3-year-old Savannah's rendition of Bon Jovi and Carrie Underwood classics, and Paige's first ride on an upside-down roller coaster.

The journey home (by myself, from Philly to FL), however, was a nightmare from start to finish.

Thanks to my always-be-prepared grandparents, I was at the airport approximately a week and a half before my flight. ;) After I checked my baggage and made it through the 45-minute line for security (the line stretched down the hallway for my terminal and into a whole different terminal--seriously, the Philly airport is HORRIBLE), I discovered that my 8 am flight to Indy had been delayed till 10:30. This was a problem, as my connecting flight from Indy to Ft Myers was leaving at 10:25.

I went to the next gate over and explained my problem. The lady did her fast-airline-typing and said, "Okay, there's a flight to Detroit about to leave 9 gates down. RUN and you can make it. There's an empty seat."

"What happens after I get to Detroit?" I asked.

"Ah, they'll figure that out down at the next gate," she answered dismissively, waving away my unimportant detail of how to get from Michigan to Florida.

So I hauled ass down to A6, stood there panting as THAT lady worked her clickity-click magic, and finally said, "Okay, here are your new boarding passes. You're checked through to Ft. Myers via a connection in Detroit."

Now at this point, I was actually quite happy with Northwest. Sure, my original flight had been delayed, but I was now on a NEW flight plan that left even EARLIER, and they sure worked quickly to make sure I was rerouted....

....until I arrived in Ft Myers, that is, (after numerous delayed on both of my "new" flights, but beggars can't be choosers, eh?) and was told that my luggage was still in Indy.

Awesome.

Long story short, it should be delivered tomorrow, until which time Dave (who picked me up; we're working on the friend thing) said I'll have to "pull a Focker." It won't be THAT bad, because at least I'm home with SOME clothes and basic toiletries, but my important stuff (my makeup! my flat iron!) is still MIA. Needless to say. I won't be making many public appearances till then....shit!!!! Except for the appointment I have with my "happy pill doctor" tomorrow morning. Oh well, if I look TOO good she won't think I'm crazy enough. ;)

So that, my friends, is it in a nutshell....or as close to a nutshell as my chatty ass can get.