My Journey's Ending

Well, after three flights, my journey across the world came to an end.  Was it a peaceful or happy end? It was until I arrived at the Minneapolis airport.

I had an amazing time in India and was sad to leave.  Saying my goodbyes was tough, and I had to fight back a couple of tears.  The Selvaraj family took me to a goodbye dinner before driving me to the airport.  A HUGE thank you to them for hosting me and being so hospitable. In the first picture, Mary Selvaraj with their dog, Benji, (named after Benjamin McKenzie of The OC... their other dog is Mischa, and her name also comes from on of the show's stars).

By some miracle, I managed to sleep six HOURS on the plane from Bangalore to Paris--compare that to the three hours total I slept on the way to Bangalore--so the first fight went by fast.  The plane exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam went smoothly, and I managed to sleep an extra two hours on the flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis.  NOTE: It was storming when I came in, so amidst the turbulence and random drops we experienced during our descent I was creating dents in the armrests with my fingernails :)


After landing is when the story of my trip home became difficult.  I waited at the baggage claim in the immigration area of MSP airport.  I still had to go through customs, and my parents would be waiting for me after.  As bag after bag was placed on the carousel, my bag was nowhere to be seen.  There was an announcement: they would open up a second carousel for bags from my flight, so I sauntered over to the second carousel and waited some more.  Bags passed: black bags, Saran-wrapped bags, bags with Christmas ribbons on them, pink bags, but not my bag.  A couple of other passengers were left with me, watching the carousel go round and round.  After I had waited long enough, I asked an older gentleman, who worked at the airport, if there were any more bags.  He said no and pulled out a list.  "If you're name's on this list, honey," he said, "then you can exit and go to the Delta baggage desk to give them your address."  Sure enough, my name was on the list.  The Netherlands had lost my luggage.

I met my parents outside customs, and after about an hour in line at the Delta help desk, I gave the woman my address and bag description.  Finally, I was able to leave the airport.

We went to Perkins and I had TWO GIANT GLASSES OF MILK and a club sandwich... mmmmmm... and  went to bed about 7:15pm... jet lag ensued.  I ended up getting my bag back two days later (Wednesday morning).  One of the up-sides to getting my bag back: my gifts!  So as not to spoil any surprises, I'll only show you two of the gifts I brought back, because the recipients have already received them.