I am back in Atlanta, and happier to be here than I thought I'd be. Not that I didn't want to come exactly, but it's always hard to leave a place where you're having fun and head for what could be the unknown. It helps when some pretty amazing friends step up to the plate to make your homecoming a little spectacular. Thanks, guys:)
Getting home was actually a pretty eventful process. It started with a delayed flight out of Korea. Nothing big. Then a 12-hour flight full of bad turbulance and forgetful flight attendants. I was too worried, though. I was flying into NYC, a place I've been lots of times. It was nothing compared to flying to Sydney that first time, right?
Wrong.
I landed, an hour late, and had to go through customs. Long line. Then I had to scrounge up $3 USD to get one of those luggage carts so I could collect my impossible suitcases and send it through the rest of customs. That would have been easier, had my luggage actually been there. One suitcase was, the other was nowhere to be seen. It took me at least half an hour to convince the airline rep that my bag was indeed missing (he just kept asking me if I was sure the bag was black).
By the time I got out of customs (about 2 1/2 hours after my flight landed), I was desperate to unload my one suitcase onto someone who could check it back onto the flight (and save me a struggle to my hotel). I missed the transfer agent who was supposedly waiting for our bags outside customs, so I made my way to the Korean Air departures desk upstairs. At this point, I had been traveling for more than 24 hours, I had eaten only airplane food during that time, I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days, and I wanted more than anything to just go to my hotel and crawl into bed. The agent at the desk, though, could not understand why I was trying to give Korean Air my luggage the night before my 8 AM Delta flight. I gave up, mumbled a "Sorry, it's been a long day" (how true that was!), and reminded myself that at least I only had one suitcase to keep up with for the night.
The next morning, I waited in line at the curbside check-in to check my bag (annoying because I already had a boarding pass). After 15 minutes or so, I finally got to the desk, only to be told that I couldn't check my bag there. My pathetic sighs had no effect on the short tempered New Yorker, so I moved inside to wait in that check-in line instead.
This time, I had to wait closer to 30 minutes, but at least the agent was more helpful. She asked how many bags I wanted to check, and I realized I had no idea. Technically, my two large ones were checked all the way through to Atlanta. But, one of those obviously wasn't on the plane anymore, so did that mean I could check my carry-on, too? Complicated, I know. The lady obviously thought so. She almost charged me extra baggage fees because she thought the suitcase I hefted onto the scale was in addition to the ones she was looking at in the computer. I tried to explain that no, this IS that suitcase, the other one is just lost in Korea somewhere. I'm sure there are better things I could have said to explain, but there a comes a point when your journey becomes so long, and your situation becomes so ridiculous, that there just is no explaining anymore.
Eventually, the lady tweaked the system a bit for me, got my suitcase on board, and I headed to the gate. Nothing too exciting happened after that, but I definitely teared up at the sight of Atlanta, I was so happy to finally be home. Sharma picked me up at the airport and welcomed me home with lunch and a movie, and I got to my house about 10 minutes before my parents did. Perfect timing:)
Since then, it's been nonstop. I bought living room furniture for my new apartment yesterday morning, enjoyed an awesome surprise party last night, caught up with a bunch of people at church this morning, and then saw even more people at Sharma's tonight.
It's good to be home. Even if there's still no sign of my suitcase...
Getting home was actually a pretty eventful process. It started with a delayed flight out of Korea. Nothing big. Then a 12-hour flight full of bad turbulance and forgetful flight attendants. I was too worried, though. I was flying into NYC, a place I've been lots of times. It was nothing compared to flying to Sydney that first time, right?
Wrong.
I landed, an hour late, and had to go through customs. Long line. Then I had to scrounge up $3 USD to get one of those luggage carts so I could collect my impossible suitcases and send it through the rest of customs. That would have been easier, had my luggage actually been there. One suitcase was, the other was nowhere to be seen. It took me at least half an hour to convince the airline rep that my bag was indeed missing (he just kept asking me if I was sure the bag was black).
By the time I got out of customs (about 2 1/2 hours after my flight landed), I was desperate to unload my one suitcase onto someone who could check it back onto the flight (and save me a struggle to my hotel). I missed the transfer agent who was supposedly waiting for our bags outside customs, so I made my way to the Korean Air departures desk upstairs. At this point, I had been traveling for more than 24 hours, I had eaten only airplane food during that time, I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days, and I wanted more than anything to just go to my hotel and crawl into bed. The agent at the desk, though, could not understand why I was trying to give Korean Air my luggage the night before my 8 AM Delta flight. I gave up, mumbled a "Sorry, it's been a long day" (how true that was!), and reminded myself that at least I only had one suitcase to keep up with for the night.
The next morning, I waited in line at the curbside check-in to check my bag (annoying because I already had a boarding pass). After 15 minutes or so, I finally got to the desk, only to be told that I couldn't check my bag there. My pathetic sighs had no effect on the short tempered New Yorker, so I moved inside to wait in that check-in line instead.
This time, I had to wait closer to 30 minutes, but at least the agent was more helpful. She asked how many bags I wanted to check, and I realized I had no idea. Technically, my two large ones were checked all the way through to Atlanta. But, one of those obviously wasn't on the plane anymore, so did that mean I could check my carry-on, too? Complicated, I know. The lady obviously thought so. She almost charged me extra baggage fees because she thought the suitcase I hefted onto the scale was in addition to the ones she was looking at in the computer. I tried to explain that no, this IS that suitcase, the other one is just lost in Korea somewhere. I'm sure there are better things I could have said to explain, but there a comes a point when your journey becomes so long, and your situation becomes so ridiculous, that there just is no explaining anymore.
Eventually, the lady tweaked the system a bit for me, got my suitcase on board, and I headed to the gate. Nothing too exciting happened after that, but I definitely teared up at the sight of Atlanta, I was so happy to finally be home. Sharma picked me up at the airport and welcomed me home with lunch and a movie, and I got to my house about 10 minutes before my parents did. Perfect timing:)
Since then, it's been nonstop. I bought living room furniture for my new apartment yesterday morning, enjoyed an awesome surprise party last night, caught up with a bunch of people at church this morning, and then saw even more people at Sharma's tonight.
It's good to be home. Even if there's still no sign of my suitcase...
