Travel Troubles and Family Fun

If I thought my life was lacking some excitement lately, that has certainly changed in the last few days. My mom is coming for a longer visit.

She was supposed to arrive last Wednesday, but because of terrible snow storms in Europe, her flight from Munich was delayed, and she missed the connection in Chicago and had to spend the night there. We called the hotel few times to make sure she has all the expenses covered, gets the wake up call in the morning and knows when and where the shuttle will be. She arrived in Austin on Thursday. But, her bag didn't.

We filled the delayed bag report, and were expecting the bag to be here the next day. But, it didn't happen. What followed were days of frustrating calls to United, which were routed to India, and we were always just told they still don't have any information on where the bag is. Lufthansa in the US would not give us any information because the report was filled with United. Lufthansa in Bosnia was reassuring us that the bag is just delayed in Munich because of all the canceled flights there. And Lufthansa in Germany never picked up the phone, even after several hours of repeat calls. What made the matter more urgent was that mom's blood pressure medications were in that bag (she only had few days worth of supplies in her carry-on) and that is not something we can just purchase at Walmart.

We got a glimpse of hope on Monday morning when United told us the bag is scheduled to be on the flights Munich-Chicago-Austin that evening. Mom's blood pressure went to normal with just that news. We were expecting the delivery today. Instead, this morning they again posted they can't "confirm the location of our property". Seriously?! What kind of operation is that?! And so the waiting continues...

The week was busy. We had my brother and sister-in-law over for dinner on Thursday, and mom met Emilia for the first time. Even with the language barrier, the communication was just fine. We went to their place on Saturday, and had them over for dinner on Sunday again. Emilia is leaving town for a week, so we wanted to spend some time together before that. Mom also had one English class on Saturday, and we ended the evening with a Christmas concert by Austin Civic Chorus. Last night we went to look at some Christmas lights (another post) and for some shopping for the stuff that are in the delayed baggage...

It would be really nice if that bag arrives before Christmas. It would be a great Christmas present. :)