We Almost Made it Home With Everything

Our flight was, shockingly for Newark, on time, and we landed in Dulles around 4:00pm, 30 minutes early.  Anna's bag was one of the first ones on the conveyor belt, but then we waited...and waited.  I finally thought to look at the United app on my phone, which has a new feature to track bags.  I saw that, indeed, Anna's bag had been delivered, but our other three bags were back in Newark, due to be put on the next flight.  Aargh!  I went to the United luggage counter, gave them all our information, and was told the bags would be delivered to our house about 8:00pm that night.  It was not ideal, but at the time, I thought it was actually easier to not have to deal with all the bags and the taxi, which brought us home.

We all felt surprisingly good upon getting home, especially considering the marathon of travel we had just completed.  K and Anna both turned in about 7:30pm, while I proudly stated I would stay up to receive the bags.  When 8:00pm came and went, however, I tried to find out where the bags were.  I was able to confirm they arrived at Dulles a couple of hours earlier.  In the end, I was told they'd be delivered by midnight.  I was given the option to "virtually sign" for them, so they could be left on our front porch.  I noted the fine print with that, however, which recused them of any responsibility for damaged or missing goods.  As our gifts, not to mention all the wine, was coming in the late shipment, I was concerned about giving away any recourse were something missing or damaged.  I ended up fighting to stay awake, and the bags were delivered, albeit at 12:02am, two minutes later than planned.

The following day was Friday.  Anna, naturally, was still on break, and K wasn't to return to work until the following Monday.  I elected to return that day, as I knew the following Monday would be crazy at work, and hoping that I could at least get my head above water on what did prove to be a relatively quiet Friday.   It was a very short night, however.  Luckily, we all had the weekend to slowly acclimate back.  Till now, though, things are still soaking in.  We all, however, have no hesitation in insisting that we would return to New Zealand in a heartbeat, and I hope that time is not too many years away.