quite the flight.

the flight home was a disaster. cape town to jo'burg went relatively smooth, save for getting dropped off by our perhaps 'too eager to get rid of us' professors 3 hours early. i was knitting up a storm for those 2 hours, determined to finish the scarf i was working on before i came home. all of my dreams were quickly shattered in jo'burg when the customs peeps wouldn't let me take my knitting needles on to the plane. cue tears. it was a long day. 

regardless we got on the plane at 7 for our 7:27 flight, we didn't actually take off until 930. 930! and the movie watcher device things weren't even working. some shennanigans went down with the luggage computer system, and all bags had to be done manually. i just hoped the extra time would mean they were making extra sure all of the bags were there.

but it was not so.

21 hours in a stuffy plane, 3 hours late into JFK, already missed my connecting flight to DC, come to find out my luggage has been left to the dregs of south africa. not only mine, but about 30 other people on the flight, including (but not limited to) EVERYONE in my program.

filing for lost luggage and working out a new flight schedule was much of a fiasco. i was not afforded the fun of saying proper goodbyes to all of my beloved friends. :(

9:30am "Hey dad! Its meg. I landed in JFK. Our flights are messed up so I might be home later."

"Are you staying the night in JFK then?"

"What? No. I'll be home before dinner."

"Oh, we weren't planning on going to the airport til tomorrow. Call your mother."

Picture it- Meg chilling in OHare, so excited to see familiar faces, holding her bags and fighting back tears at their absence. Okay who am I kidding, the tears would have been flowing.

9:35 am

"Hi, is June Lee there?"

"Hold please."  

-- Winter Wonderland begins playing on hold line --

-- Megan gets giddy for Christmas --

11:15 "ma'am, we have a direct flight from here to o'hare. are you interested?"

"what time?"

"12."

"shit."

"just run to terminal 2. here's your flimsy fake looking boarding pass."

:: Meg is stereotypical crazy person with bags flailing and not nearly enough coats on for the seemingly arctic tundra that is NYC ::

To top it off, I was randomly selected for a more in depth security search at customs. After removing all removable without being inappropriate clothes on my body, I successfully passed the inspection. I had time to make a quick call to June and grab a starbucks cinnamon dolce latte, a sweet sweet reunion.

2:30 rolls around and Air Force 1 makes headway into the windy city. I was so excited to see the beaches of lake michigan, then realized they were so pretty because it was actually snow and not sand. Snow! BRR!

It was a happy day to see all of the people I love most in my life- Dad, Mom, Danny, Carla. Jenny and Cameron. Even though I was sans luggage, I was surplus happy.

Literally- nothing has changed in Merrillville, Indiana. (save for the panda express off broadway)