In Transit (June 19th)

So all was going well, me and my 2 ridiculously heavy carry on bags made it to Chicago where I had a 2 hour layover and had to transfer terminals and therefore go through security check. Well I get through that with no problem, wait my turn to board the plane, get to my seat near the back of the plane, fit both of my heavy heavy bags in the overhead bin (my smaller bag was not small enough to go under my seat), when i realize that one of my carry on bags isn't as heavy as it used to be. The first thought that goes through my head, "Wow- I am already getting stronger from carrying these bags." Second thought, "Holy crap! I left my laptop at the security check point!"

So i left my bags and started pushing my way to the front of the plane (note: getting off the plane while everyone else is trying to get on does not make people happy). Frantically I yell at the flight attendants, "Ahhhh!!!!! I left my laptop at security! I have to get this! My thesis is on there! My life is on there!" So they gently escort me off the plane and find their most out of shape employee who was just hanging out to run with me to security. Which is easily over 1/4 mile away. I start running, he is running with me, and keeps being like- Can we stop running? I cant run anymore. Me, freaked out, tells him no way, and I keep on booking it.

So we get there, and while i look for my laptop, he looks for a golf-cart for the way back, and I run up to the security guard and tell him my situation. He smiles and asks me if i had a sticker on this alleged lap-top. " I do!!!!" I answered excitedly. "It says Sverige/Sweden with a Moose on it!" He pulls out my laptop and tells me that normally they send this stuff up to the front desk, which I would have had no chance of getting to in the 20 minutes before my plane leaves, but he figured the person who left this was probably on a SAS flight and was going to wait until it left. Thank goodness for that silly sticker! So I got my laptop, hoped on the golf-cart with the sweaty SAS crew guy and boarded the plane in the nick of time. Whew. Crises averted.

So then we are waiting for the plane to take off and I notice that the 2 seats next to me are empty. Score! But then this mother of a 10 month old baby asked me if I could switch with her, and even though she was sitting next to an obviously crazy Danish lady, I couldn't say no, and I told her if she keeps her baby quiet then she has a deal. (OK- I didn't say that, but I did give up my seat.) Good news is that it kept that baby silent the entire 8 hour flight! She thanked my like 10 times, and I was like- no problem, anything to keep a baby from screaming on a long crowded flight!

So at this point, I was thinking I had scored some pretty good karma points, when the flight attendant awakes me in the middle of the flight and asks, "Are you Ms. Neil?" (They never say the O here I have noticed) "One of your bags is not on this flight." Great. Some of you may have heard that the last time I flew into Copenhagen they lost both of my bags and it took 3 days to get my luggage. So that would suck, but most importantly, my whole life is in those bags!!! (Flashback to previous post where I got rid of all my stuff!) so I had that to think about the next 4 hours of the flight. Good times.

So the good news is that I arrived in Copenhagen, filed a missing bag report, and they delievered my bag within about 24 hours. Again, whew. And Blake was there to greet me and whisk me away to Sweden (aka- Sverige)! Huzzah! And they all lived happily ever after....