HOME!

I finally made it home. I left campus around 12:30 EST and didn't actually set foot into my house until about 11:20ish PST. That means, I was traveling for about 14 hours just to go from the East Coast to the Best Coast (for those who don't know, the West Coast is the Best Coast). It is glorious to be home. Now, I shall fill you in on my crazy day of traveling.

First of all, when I went to check my bags in, I discovered that Virgin America has indeed spoiled me with their 70 lb. bag limit. Unlike Virgin America, Southwest has a 50 lb. limit (but 2 free checked bags). My bag weighed 75 lbs. I had to find 25 lbs. to remove from my bag and fit into my already stuffed duffel bag and my two carry-ons. The skycap gave me a plastic bag and tied one of my carry-ons plus a random assortment of things into a big plastic bag. So, that was the beginning of my crazy day.

I was afraid I wouldn't be allowed to carry the plastic bag on with me, and would have to come to terms with the $50 overweight bag fee. Luckily, that was not the case. It was more or less smooth sailing from there, until I got to Chicago.

I checked the monitor and saw that my new gate was in Concourse B, and I had landed in Concourse A. I decided at that point to cave in and invest in a SmarteCarte to drag my awkward plastic bag across the airport. Well, that idea turned out to be a very smart plan because the plastic bag ripped right before I got to the SmarteCarte. When I got to my gate, I got creative and somehow managed to fit everything into my two carry-on bags. (Annie, your bag is fabulous...it held everything in wonderfully and I will now be referring to it as my Mary Poppins bag)

Finally, picking up my bags at the end of the road was the cherry on top of my crazy day. Apparently, a lot of flights landed around the same time, so the airport was slower than it usually is. My flight's bags didn't start coming out until about half an hour after we landed. Yay for flying near the holidays! This was probably the craziest experience I've ever had flying.

I've also learned that I should rethink the types of bags I use when I fly. I think I'll invest in a backpack and a second checked bag that's bigger than a duffel. At least I'm home now.