Monday, February 20, 2006

Praha, baby!

Yes, I am actually here in Prague. I made it!

It was no easy task, let me tell you. In fact, I'm not sure the nightmare is over. Here's a super quick rundown.

On Sunday, I stood at the check-in desk for more than an hour. Even though I had a "seat" on the direct Prague flight, it was issued by Delta and my original ticket was by Northwest.

Eventually the surly agent handed me a ticket for a Delta flight going through Amsterdam to Prague. Then told me to go across the street to check in.

Across the street, there was a line to get in the check in line. The inside check-in line was quite long. Midway through the line, I looked at the itinerary the agent had just given me.

Are you ready?

It said MONDAY THE 20TH leaving and arriving TUESDAY.

I about lost it. I broke down in tears once again, in line, in public. No shame at all.

I finally got the front of the line and said there's a huge mistake. That guy took me to another guy, who with yet a third guy's input, actually put me on a flight, with a boarding pass and everything. Going to Amsterdam and then Prague.

(Remember, that was my ORIGINALLY-BOOKED flightpath except on Northwest/KLM flights. Whatever.)

Arrived in Amsterdam no problem. Made the connection to Prague, no problem.

Ready for this?

My suitcase, which wasn't taken off the first Saturday Delta/Air France flight to Paris, never made it to Prague. It's probably in Paris.

See what I'm dealing with here?

Actually, I'm pretty calm about this huge problem. The only thing I don't have are clothes and toiletries. I'm cool with wearing the same outfit every day, but man, I am not about to go for days without brushing my teeth or washing my face or putting on deodorant.

The lady at the baggage office said it might get here tomorrow. But honestly, I doubt it. There's airline differences and I don't think anyone gets just how complicated this stupid thing has been. My only hope is that they ship it back to New York so I don't actually lose it all forever.

This afternoon, I went to the Old Town of Prague. It is completely lovely and delightful! I have taken over 100 pictures just today. Sweet!

I also found a Tesco (thank you!) to stock up on toiletries. So now I am feeling fresh once again, just in time to crash with jetlag.

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions and well-wishes!

More later!

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