landed in Belize sans luggage

I miraculously made it on to the flight tonight to Belize. I was the last person on and only made because some poor man's wife was no where to be found come boarding call. I had sat at the gate with a local and chatted about life in general. He was reading these Frank Peretti books that I had read during high school.. Which if you know the nature of the author probably put him on the "i am not going to scam you" spectrum. Yes , my guard is up as a sole young lady traveling to the developing world by herself. I walked on the plane said something to the stewardess about my luggage - which should of been a warning sign when she said she would get back to me and never did - and had a smooth flight to Belize. Then after landing the day continued down its bad course. Of course when I landed my luggage was nowhere to be seen and the luggage guy refused to believe that I couldn't find it. Then the security guy made fun of me for not having any bags and for not packing any clothes in a carry-on.

On the bright side, Maya Airlines re-booked my flight without cost to me for tomorrow at noon, hoping that my bags will come in on that morning flight. Really hoping. And the some friendly American strangers from Portland informed me that Continental would put us up in a local hotel with free shuttle to and from the airport since we missed our connection. So I am at the Global Village Hotel which is run by Taiwanese immigrants, eating fried rice. and drinking a refreshing Belikin beer. Not so bad end I guess. I am just stressed and exhausted. The lack of sleep and no one to commiserate with has made the situation seem worse than it is.

Signing off for tonight from a warm muggy room in the Global Hotel. I shall be off to the beach tomorrow. Hopefully today used up all the bad karma for my trip. Fingers crossed.

Not so good beginnings

My trip has started out badly. I got up at 3:30 this morning and drove to MSP with Skidaway and Jimmy. That leg of the trip went without incident - it was just hard to say goodbye. People did not know how to quickly navigate airports which always gets on my nerve, but I gave them leeway as people should not be fully functioning early in the morning. My connection time in Houston to Belize was 40 minutes. Tight I know but I thought feasible. But the weather had other plans. We got re-routed wot Austin, Texas and sat on the ground in the plane for 3 hours. I had the pleasure of sitting by the bathroom which got a lot of use during the ground time and our fellow passengers were not aware that the door should be immediately shut open exiting to retain smells. Anyway, I of course missed my flight and I now sit in Houston hoping to get stand-by status on the flight that was suppose to leave at 1:35... it's now pushed back to 2 - something. I just might be sleeping in the airport tonight... along with other disgruntled passengers.

I have flown a lot lately for my interviews and I started having the bad experiences with airlines again. Its bound to happen when you fly every couple of days. I use to just blame it on a particular airline - I have a bad track record with American. They always seem to lose my luggage... including my luggage before my wedding in Savannah which kept getting delayed secondary to a surprise visit by Chaney to the airport where my luggage sat. But I digress. I am just venting now as I have no other avenue and Jimmy is luckily not getting to hear me over the phone. I left that at home as I wouldn't be using it in Belize.

I think the funniest thing about this whole flight delay. Is that for the first time traveling internationally I has made plans for when I arrived. I had booked a flight to Placenia and a hotel until Sunday. Now that seems like wasted money and perhaps a sign that I should not be so "prepared" next time.

I sign off for now. Hopefully my next post finds me in Belize.

preparation

Jimmy and I finished our rank list for the Match this evening and now all we have left to do is wait until March. One item crossed off the to-do list before I leave on Thursday for Belize. Still have many more, but the rank list was the big one. Check back as I will hopefully be able to update while I am away.