Lost and Found

Karine and I have different philosophies when it comes to luggage. Or to stuff in general. She likes more, I like less. I would love to travel with nothing. Luggage is the single worst thing about going anywhere. Here is what we had with us when we flew out of Omaha: 1) Karine, 2) Tom, 3) Giant Suitcase #1, 4) Baby Duffel, 5) The Chicco Cortina Travel System (CCTS), 6) Karine's Purse, 7) The Black Pack.

The Baby Duffel is not a little tiny duffel bag. It is a giant duffel filled with baby gear: pacifiers, receiving blankets, onesies, a Polish Pottery piggy-bank, a swaddler, baby lotions, baby creams, baby bottles, and a bear that makes noise when you press his body parts. The Black Pack is a black Jansport backpack that I have had since high school. It contains vital documents, our laptop, and our cameras. This trip is also contained our ultrasounds and a magazine about German Shepherds.

We lost the CCTS somewhere in Minneapolis. Karine spoke with a nice woman in Omaha about checking it all the way through to Chicago. Here is where our problems start. When we got to Chicago the CCTS was AWOL. This is not good. Karine loves this thing. She researched strollers for weeks. She could be a consultant in the stroller industry. She was upset.

We spoke with John down in the luggage department at Chigaco O'Hare. I call him the luggage guy. He probably has a title of some kind, luggage associate, something like that. He was pretty busy when we talked to him. He was in the middle of a dog swap. A dog swap is when you go to pick up your dog and they give you someone else's dog and say, "Here's your dog!" Then you find out that your dog is in Norfolk, VA. John was untangling one of the those when I asked him about our stroller.

We told him what happened and he typed some stuff in the computer. He took down our number at the hotel and told us that he would send the CCTS if it came in before midnight. But he didn't didn't talk to anyone on the phone. That made me feel uneasy. You think he could just call someone at Northwest Airlines in Minneapolis and ask.

We took a bus over to Midway. We were the only people on the bus. It was a big bus. We arrived at Midway with our remaining luggage just as Rolland Burris was giving a press conference upon returning from Washington. He is a US Senator, sort of.

Burris seems like a nice guy, but he was appointed by this idiot.



We walked past the press conference and went to speak with Leatrice in the luggage department. She made us feel better about everything. She got on the phone and talked to some people. She was really nice the whole time she was helping us. But the CCTS was no where to be found. It had not been located or sent anywhere. So we went to the Holiday Inn.

***Karine just informed me that she told this entire story.***

Today we discovered that everything that was lost had been found. It was waiting for us in San Pedro Sula. The luggage people at Northwest and Delta Airlines found our stuff and figured out how to get it to us. They did a good job. Our stuff was sent to La Ceiba this afternoon. The CCTS is at home now. It is in great shape.

Karine is happy. Ruby is happy. And I am happy.

Our bags had all kinds of crazy tags all over them. This one is our favorite. We hope this unknown luggage person went to that party. And we hope everyone had an awesome time.