Wheels within Wheels

My luggage was delivered to my home Wednesday evening. Ten days after the flight. I’m just glad it was the return trip – if it had happened on the trip out, I’d have gone from Cairo to Aswan to Kom Ombo to Luxor to Cairo to Mt. Sinai to Nuweiba without my luggage. I’d also have been down to one working camera, since the charger for my Canon was in the checked bag – there was a limited amount of room in the backpack I used for my carryon.

The expensive souvenirs (as well as some I really didn’t care if I saw again or not – it’s an embarrassing story) were in the checked bag. They were still there, which is good, because one entire side of the bag was torn out at the seam between the side and the bottom. I’m not blaming Lufthansa for that, because it was a cheap bag I picked up in Cairo. Marion and I both started the trip with Jeep duffel bags that turned out to be a bit small. Mine tore out more quickly than hers, so I replaced it in Cairo the second time we were there. I bought two duffel bags (one large, one small) from a street kiosk. They both had Adidas logos, but were counterfeits. The large bag had an “H. N.” logo on the zipper pulls, and the small bag had “Diesel” zipper pulls. Together, they cost about 110LE (Egyptian pounds, about $19US). They got me through the end of the trip, so I’m fine with it.

I’m glad the expensive souvenirs made it. I’d have been disappointed if they hadn’t – I had two tins of Jordanian baked treats (pistachio mamoul and some pistachio/sesame/peanut things) that cost 26JD in Amman (Jordanian dinar – about $37US) that would cost me over $100 to replace via the web. They’re quite tasty – I may have to see about making some once I run out.

The cartoon at the top of the post was given to me by my boss; she’d been given it by friends who’d been told about my missing bag.

Fruit flies like a banana. I found out just how much when a couple of bananas on a high shelf became “out of sight, out of mind.” I could certainly have used this advice a week or so ago.