If Anything Can Go Wrong . . .

Well, we made it to Kiev. That's the good news. Unfortunately, our luggage did not, and no one seems to know where it is.

But let me go back. We were supposed to fly out Saturday morning at 8:35 a.m. However, the pilot was late. Whether this is because he slept in or he was on another flight, we don't know, but we didn't take off until about 9:45, which put us in a bit of a panic because we had a very short layover in New York. We arrived in New York and ran/walked very fast to our next terminal, only to find out they had changed the terminal our flight was leaving from. You would think they would have announced that as we were getting off the first flight, but no. So we ran/walked very fast back to the correct terminal and arrived just as they were starting to let stand-by passengers onto the plane! We rushed to our seats with a sigh of relief and took off a short FIVE HOURS later!

But let me go back. After boarding our flight at NYC, there were winds, apparently, at the airport, forcing all planes to the same runway. The pilot announced there were about thirty planes in line ahead of us, so we waited and waited. When there were only eight planes in line ahead of us, the pilot announced that there was something mechanically wrong with the airplane, something to do with the cooling fans, and that we needed to get out of line and taxi back to the terminal, which we did. We then waited for the mechanics to come and fix the problem. After that, we got back into line again. We finally took off at 9:10 p.m., a mere five hours late.

When we arrived in Kiev Sunday (five hours late), our luggage seemed to be missing. We watched and watched all the luggage going round and round, and after thirty minutes we went into the "lost luggage" office, where we had to fill out several very confusing forms. The woman said one of our pieces of luggage was in London; there is no record of our other piece of luggage; they will keep looking and notify us when they find it.

We then went through customs and found the Bensons, Irina, and Sergei, who had been waiting for us for two hours. The Bensons were scheduled to leave NYC well after us, but they arrived in Kiev well before us.

Vasilly then transported all of us to our apartment in Kiev, where we dropped off our luggage. Oh, yeah. We don't have any luggage. I mean where we dropped off the Bensons' luggage. Then we walked with Irina and Sergei to the little market and bought a few little items like milk, bread, some chicken things (not sure what they are, but Sergei recommended them), some smoked fish, and some milk. Only now we have discovered that the milk isn't really milk but some unidentifiable liquid that I'm sure could be used somehow but probably not for consumption.

We have checked twice with Delta since we got here; they don't know where one piece of our luggage is. The other piece is somewhere between London and Kiev. I know this is selfish, but please let the luggage they did find be MINE AND NOT MICHAEL'S! I have no underwear, no toothbrush, no shampoo, soap, socks, clothes other than what's on my back. I have NOTHING! Well, neither does Michael, but that's easier for him, right? I hope the SDA forgives me when I show up in Levis, white tennis shoes, and a three-day-old shirt.

The person at Delta speaks broken English, and we can't seem to make them understand our dire circumstances. We have attempted to call Irina, but the calls won't connect. Obviously we are doing something wrong. We have gone on line to check on the status of our baggage, but it keeps telling us our claim number is invalid. Aaargh!!!

The Bensons have now left to go on a walk; I'm sure we're probably driving them crazy. We are sitting here hoping either the phone or doorbell rings with news of our luggage.

I'm sure one day I might look back on this and laugh but not today.