Adventures!

Have you ever woken up in the morning and the birds were singing, the sun was shining and you knew things were going to go great? I have. However, today it was rainy, the birds were hiding and I still needed to finish packing before meeting with Steve and Kevin at 10:30 to catch the bus. I hurried through the rest of the list, packing things and shuffling it around so that the suitcase would close. I had to pick up extra equipment the night before and now my luggage was ½ clothes, ½ cords.

Thankfully Andy was in a good mood and moved through his morning routine without much prodding from me. We got him to school – chatting all the way – and said our good-byes as he headed into the final 2 weeks of his Freshman year. I turned the car for home and made it back in record time. Along the way I sang to the radio and went through my packing list in my head, remembering that I hadn’t packed any Aspirin. When I got home I finished packing and Jimmy and I headed to the restaurant for a farewell breakfast. Along the way we a car marked “U.S. Customs” passed on the opposite side of the street. I should have taken that as an omen.

We met my friend Sue there and started enjoying the day. That’s when it happened. My cell phone rang. The ring tone told me this was a number I did not have on my contacts list. As the Who belted out the familiar song I grabbed my phone and answered it. It was the airline. They had some shifting in staff the night before and I was informed that the information I had received was not correct. They would not allow the luggage to go as I had it configured. The cases could not weigh more than 50 kilos. I knew I should have paid attention in math class when we were discussing the metrics system. But I did know enough to realize that my 67 pound boxes would not make the cut. My bus left at 10:30 and it was right now 10am. With the speed of a superhero I hung up the phone and contacted the only person I knew that could help me out. Donna. She is the Administrative Assistant to the dean and I would be lost without her. This would not be the first problem she had talked me through.

We decided that the best option was to get another shipping crate and lower the weight of the 3 boxes by shifting equipment. I was transferred to Chris, the Administrative Assistant for the IMC and the hunt for another box began. As I paid my bill and started to the bus station (I had Steve and Kevin’s tickets so I had to make that connection first) Chris hunted down another box and headed to a meeting point. Steve and Kevin were sent to Chicago with instructions on gaining a cart to transport the equipment cases off the bus and into the terminal. Meanwhile, Jimmy and I headed to the park and ride and began removing items from the case. I can only imagine what that must of looked like. We were lucky no police officers stopped to inspect what appeared to be a makeshift rummage sale.

Chris arrived with the case, we moved items around, relocked the luggage and went back to the bus station where I caught the next bus to the terminal. The bus ride was boring and I used it to catch up on a few remaining minutes of sleep. When it stopped at the terminal Steve and Kevin were waiting, cart in tow. Thankfully the line for the check-in was small and I moved to the front of the line rather quickly…but not before getting yelled at for going through the business class line (I was only taking a shortcut).

Now the plot thickens. The lady behind the counter, who was very nice, looked at me and wanted to know why I was brining 5 pieces of luggage, 4 of which were obviously very large and heavy. I explained that it was computer equipment and that I was well aware of the cost of shipping extra pieces. She began the task of checking me in, and a mere $1500 later we were almost on our way. We did need to carry the large cases to a different security area first. I am glad that Kevin and Steve were along – it made things that much smoother.

Well the equipment was headed to Rome – and it actually arrived – but I get ahead of myself. This story is not yet complete as the plane ride was a whole different adventure. But I will save that for the next post.


The moral of this story is – always double check luggage restrictions before heading to the airport. I am glad I did or this could have been a completely different story.