Well, so much for posting updates along the way. My DC trip has ended with my safe return to Wellington this past Wednesday. It was a whirlwind of ups and downs that I will chronicle in the next several blog posts. Here we go.
The day I left for DC was a flurry of activity. I did the unthinkable, for me, and worked right up until the moment I left for the airport. I don't usually operate this way but I had taken on a great deal of work and then set arbitrary deadlines that would have me finishing various projects before I left for DC. I had finished everything else and just needed to complete my final report summarizing my research at Wellington Zoo. So that morning I woke up early combed through the report, made a few changes, touched up some of the figures and with a sigh of relief sent it off. From there I showered and started the process of packing our larger backpack with everything I wanted to take with me. I was taking this pack, which is Tim's, because I could pack my poster, inside a poster tube, in the middle of the bag. I had used this exact method of transportation for the poster I presented at EBPS in La Rochelle, France, when Timmy and I went to Europe on our "conference tour" in 2013.
I was just stuffing the last of my clothes into the pack when Timmy arrived home; he had needed to go in to campus that morning but came back to see me off to the airport. :) So just take a moment to conjure the image in your mind: a huge backpack, more suited to a man than a woman, that was stuffed to the gills and would be transported by me. Oh dear. I could lift it and put it on but not without some concerted effort. Tim took one look at it and said, "If you buy anything while you're there just mail it back to NZ". There was no way I could fit anything more into the bag.
So we set off for the airport but not before I, at the last moment, decided to change carry on bags so I could carry a smaller bag that I was bringing along anyway. After quickly moving my stuff into the smaller bag we left to catch a bus and Tim, being the gentleman that he is, carried my big bag. Upon arrival I wrestled the hip belt from the bag, snapped it around the middle of the pack and slid the entire thing into a lightweight carry bag. We use these when traveling with our packs to avoid the possibility of the various straps getting caught or torn off along the way.
I checked in and verified that I needed to pick up my bag and recheck it in San Francisco; the gentleman who waited on me looked up and said, "Yes, if you don't it won't follow you to DC". Right.
Timmy sat with me until it was time to go through security and board my flight to Auckland. Saying goodbye is always tough but this time was a bit different. Usually Timmy is the one who is jet-setting and I'm the one staying at home - it's just the way things have worked out with his various trips to Antarctica, conferences and workshops. And while I've attended conferences and workshops I've been able to take him with me or they've been held in Wellington. So this was me getting on the plane. To be perfectly honest I was nervous about travelling alone, to a place I'd never been and finding my way once I was there. But I took a deep breath and boarded the plane.
The flight to Auckland was ludicrously short, just 38 minutes, where they found enough time to serve us wine with fancy crackers and cheese. Now I've flown with Air New Zealand quite a few times now but this royal treatment was a first. So I sat back and was soaking it all in when, suddenly, realization struck. I realized that when I had switched carry on bags just before leaving the house I hadn't checked all the inside pockets where I had carefully, painstakingly, packed some very important medication (birth control) that I shouldn't be without because, as you know, you need to take it everyday. I was so angry that I'd made such a stupid mistake!! So, at cruising altitude, I worked through the situation and realized that, although not ideal, I would be able to go without and resume my course of pills when I returned home. Still chiding myself we arrived in Auckland without incident where I took a brisk walk from the Domestic to the International terminal. There I popped into the ladies room before proceeding up stairs to go through Immigration. It was when I reached the other side, a literal point of no return, when I realized that my phone was missing! Thinking through my steps I figured out that I had accidentally left it in the bathroom downstairs so I spoke the NZ equivalent of TSA and they were nice enough to go and look for it. Long story short they found it, then quizzed me about it to make sure that it was mine and finally handed it over. From there I sat down and called Timmy to tell him that I forgot my pills and we talked through various scenarios of what we could do. In the end we decided that he wouldn't attempt to put a pack in the mail because sending prescription meds through the mail is prohibited and because it was Friday he wouldn't be able to send it until the following Monday; it would be unlikely that it would reach me in time. After we said goodbye I emailed the Student Health Service at Victoria to confirm that my plan for resuming my meds when I returned would be workable (indeed it was).
With this craziness behind me I was wondering if the entire trip would be like this?! From there I boarded my flight to San Francisco and am happy to report that we flew through space and time without incident. I do have to say that since becoming vegetarian this was the first time I would be flying and eating vegetarian fare on the plane. Yeah. About that. I don't know who was tasked with coming up with these "special meals" but they are the weirdest stuff you've ever seen. Most of the time I wasn't sure what was on my tray. AND they jipped me on the ice cream that came with the regular meal!!!! If you know how much I love ice cream you will understand my rage. :)
We landed on time in San Francisco, I collected my bag and jogged with my cart to drop it off with United and then went through security to board my last flight to Dulles. Upon emerging from the security check point I immediately bought a Coke. They don't have real Coke in NZ and it's my favorite so I got some as soon as was possible. My flight was about to board so I didn't grab anything to eat; this was a big mistake because they don't feed you on US Domestic flights these days. We arrived at Dulles at 10pm Eastern time and after collecting my bag I found the Super Shuttle and arranged my ride to the hotel. Now Dulles is over 30 miles from where I needed to be and I figured the shuttle would take awhile. It did. I was last person to be dropped off and by then it was after midnight. Exhausted and hungry I dragged my bag into the lobby and proceeded to check in. That was when the guy told me that the credit card that the room was reserved with had declined when he ran the whole bill through. From that moment my heart began to race, I thought, "What am I going to do? I don't have another credit card! It's the middle of night!". Then he said, "Oh, ok, it declined it but then it went through". I wanted to hit someone at that point - too many things had gone wrong and I was too tired and hungry and knew that I needed to get up early the next morning to start the conference. He handed over my room keys and I went up the elevator to my room. I started unpacking when the final straw broke the proverbial camel's back. After pulling clothes and toiletries out of my pack I reached in to remove the poster tube. It was then that I saw that the middle connection point had disconnected from the other half of the tube and the poster, as you can imagine, had been twisted and smashed with extreme prejudice!! At that point, the waterworks started, and I had a good cry. Yeah. It happened.
Then I called Timmy and I told him about the poster. In his very calm demeanor he talked me down and helped me realize that nothing had gone seriously wrong; that everything could be fixed or solved in one way or another. And that I was much stronger than I thought (or felt at that moment). He said, "Ok, I have to be a little bit of a hard ass". It was adorable!!!
After we said goodbye I started addressing each problem in turn. First, I would find some food as I hadn't really eaten all day. This was tricky as it was the middle of the night but I was able to order in some pizza and that went a long way towards me feeling better. I then finished unpacking and took a shower. Then it was about 2am and I decided to not worry about being at the conference super early. I collapsed into bed and didn't move a muscle until the alarm sounded seven hours later.
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