Travel, and how not to make it more relaxing...

Alright, so I fled the country... again.

I needed a break from the day to day stresses of my life, so I headed to the airport yesterday, to catch a noon flight to Washington. Despite my usual inability to be organised in good time, I caught my flight, and settled in for the usual seven hour drag. We got to DC on time, and I made my way to Immigration to have my smile photographed and fingerprints of my index fingers taken, only to be encountered with a vast sea of humanity, all of whom were awaiting the same warm and friendly welcome that we've become so used to.

Oh dear, I thought (please note that this quote has been censored for my family readership), I may miss my connecting flight, and it's the only one. Worst of all, I had an upgrade to first class, and I really didn't want to miss that. Usually, however, United Airlines have people in the queue, plucking out those with extra tight connects. Not today... I made it through and still had a chance, I thought, only to encounter a melee at baggage reclaim. Surviving that, a long queue for Customs clearance and then baggage recheck (yes, American bureaucracy makes you reclaim your bags so that you can recheck them, stupid, or what?), I dashed across the terminal, made the flight to Albuquerque - only just - and asked if my luggage would make it. "Don't worry sir, your luggage will have travelled faster than you did.".

So, where is my luggage? Denver, that's where. On the plus side, I was given an overnight bag by United, which has some quite nice stuff in it, and I persuaded them to give me a $150 dollar certificate for future travel, so it's not a complete loss. Also, I made it to the hotel, to find that I'd been ungraded to a suite. And the internet service is free!