And I'm Back...But What About My Luggage?

I am now back in Sunny Southern California (Sunny So Cal to the locals) and it feels great. I've already eaten a big fat greasy hamburger for dinner last night and an even greasier burrito for lunch this afternoon.
You see, it seems the only food you can get in India (or perhaps just the only food I was given) is Indian food. I enjoyed the local cuisine just fine and I even occasionally venture out to an Indian restaurant at home (if for nothing else to act more cultured at dinner parties...which reminds me, I need to attend more dinner parties), but I can only take so much.
It was because of this that it dawned on me that we, as Americans, are amazingly spoiled with the immense variety of food available due to our "melting pot" culture. It's a luxury few realize.
But let's get to the really exciting part of my trip.
Some of you may have heard that wonderful Heathrow Airport in beautiful London, England opened its long anticipated Terminal 5 (T5 to the locals). Some of you may have heard this because of the mass chaos, delays, and baggage problems that were inevitable on T5's first day. I heard about it because I was part of the mass chaos, delays, and baggage problems.
When I first checked in at the Bombay airport for my long venture home, the British Airways representative was very excited to inform me that I would be one of the lucky passengers to pass through the new terminal on its inaugural day. His excitement rubbed off on me and I was ready to brag to all my friends about this historic event.
Turns out, though, it wasn't such a good thing. Sure, we boarded our plane on time (actually 5 minutes late, but who's counting) and yes, I was sitting in an empty row, so I was happy so far. 25 minutes later, however, the captain announces that there has been a mix up with the luggage and they are re-consolidating on the tarmac and we'll be moving shortly. 20 minutes after that, he again announced a mix up with the baggage (apparently the computers thought our plane had already left and it sent the baggage back to the airport...stupid computers) and we'll be moving shortly. 15 minutes later, we're finally on our way, but you can feel the tension on the plane. There wasn't a single passenger on the plane that felt their luggage would make it safely (except maybe the crying baby, but he/she openly admitted to being an uncompromising optimist).
Sure enough, when we land at LAX, our friendly captain announces that only half of the baggage has made the journey with us and to find a British Airways representative to see if your name is on the list of missing bags. So I did. I was lucky enough to have one of my bags arrive and also unlucky enough to have one of my bags missing. This is a first for me. I've never had baggage problems before (except in my personal life but that's neither here nor there) so I'm not exactly sure how it all works. Apparently I'm going to be contacted shortly, so that's nice. They seem to have it under control, I trust them. T5 is exciting.

Til Next Time.

States: 24
Countries: 5

P.S. Someone (they didn't leave their name) posted a comment on my last post complaining that my writings are too wordy and to add more pictures. While I have no intention to add pictures, I will humor their request from now on. Please see below for the most recent feature or my blog.


This Post For Those With Limited Attention Spans:
I like Indian food, but come on.
I flew out of the new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow and they lost one of my bags. I also met the youngest optimist in the world.
T5 is exciting.