Baggage, Not Us, Gone Walkies

I write this in our hotel in the Lake District. Outside the window is all that lovely scenery and of course all that spectacular walking. But not for us. No walks here. We have no kit. In fact we have only the clothes we arrived in, a guitar, a computer and a carry-on bag containing books and other in-flight necessities.

We left America on Tuesday. Jane and Lorenzo drove us to Nashville and dropped us at the airport. We thanked them for their wonderful hospitality and for letting us share their excitement as we watched history together. At Music City Airport we jumped through all the hoops as usual, including all that nonsense about taking our shoes off, made it to the boarding gate, sat there for hours because there was a storm in Chicago, boarded the aircraft, sat there for hours while the plane also sat there for hours, and eventually it was allowed to take off.

At Chicago we had to run from one terminal to another and just made it to the Manchester flight. But apparently our luggage did not. What fun it was to stand at the luggage carousel in Manchester. The man next to me was concerned, because everybody else seemed to be getting their bags, that his would be missing. It wasn't, but I had taken the opportunity to tell him, with the seasoned traveller's air of weary off-handedness, that four times in the past our luggage had gone astray. He didn't stay long enough for me to let him know that the score is now five.

Yes, we were left standing with an empty carousel. The man at the complaints counter says our stuff could arrive on the same flight today, in which case it will be delivered to the address we gave him, of our friends in Stockport. What happens if that fails I do not know, because tomorrow we leave the country for Spain and France.

What a pity we do not still have the card insurance we had with our Cyprus bank, when we lived there. With that cover, they had to pay us, after the first four hours of missing luggage, 80 dollars for every further hour until the luggage was in our hands. Unfortunately there was a limit of 1000 dollars payout. On one occasion, Gay's bag was absent for four days. Compensation , without the limit, would have added up to several thousand dollars. Still, we were quite happy to accept the thousand they paid up without question.

Of course, our bags may totally disappear, in which case we are covered. But can you remember exactly what is in your luggage, and how much it is worth? No, neither can we.

p.s. Later in the day. We have been reunited with the miscreant baggages, so we are now able to change our clothes.