What I've lost, what I've gained.

LONDON Friday February 4, 2011, 4pm

It is 11am in Montreal; 4pm in London. I would have to say that this connection through Paris to London has been THE craziest I've probably ever experienced. It was not wise to fly a series of charters for a long-term stay. Not only are their baggage restrictions limiting, but their connection facitilites (i.e. no elevators, extremely long gate to gate connections) is not for the heavily-loaded-down traveller. Big honking note to self.

I'm exhausted because my body doesn't know what time it is, but thank goodness I have the lovely Miss Suzanne that met me at Luton airport and escorted me to her quaint little home in downtown London. So now I get to sit in her little guest room decorated in swanky purple, lounge on her comfy sofa bed, and drink tea while I write to you. Life is good!

WHAT I'VE LOST:

- 20kg of clothes at Montreal airport when I realized I misunderstood Air Transat baggage restrictions. I thought I was allowed any number of bags at 50lbs (23kg) each. When I checked in, I learned that it was 50lbs of any number of bags TOTAL. Clearly, I think I had close to 40lbs too much. A special Thank You to Wasyl for his patience, his help, and his sherpa-like qualities by taking a whole wack of belongings back to his home after I hastily removed, discarded, and repacked to meet the luggage limits. (I think that was the 5th or 6th time I repacked those darn bags).

- my glass of wine on the plane that I was SO looking forward to drinking after the stress of the repack in Montreal, and all over my pillow. Yuck.

- as ironic as it is, my red Swiss Army bag that I spent 1 hour repacking in Montreal (and 5 times repacking prior to this). I arrived in Paris and my golf clubs arrived, my carry on arrived, but my 50lb bag with the lion's share of clothes and supplies did not. Of 300 passengers, 2 of us didn't get our bags. I land in Paris at what is 1:30am and spend 1 hour at the lost luggage counter. Are you kidding me????

- a lot of sleep and a bit of sanity

WHAT I'VE GAINED

- a perspective on the amount of time that I spent in shopping malls around the U.S. over the last 4 years of my travelling job gathering and buying my favorite things, having packed most of them in my red Swiss Army bag, and having the threat of never seeing them again. It's amazing how long we can spend acquiring material things and then in a puff of a second, have them disappear. Makes you wonder why we spend the time, money and energy to collect them in the first place.

- I had wanted to pack lighter for this trip but couldn't seem to make it happen. How many lessons did I have to go through to get this (i.e. how many times are you going to go around the same mountain until you learn the lesson? Clearly: many, many times). At the end of it all, what I'm left with is a carry on with 1 pyjama bottom (no top), a complete golfing outfit (good thing 'cause I have my golf clubs), and 5 pairs of underwear! God obviously said this: if you're not going to get it done and pack light, I'm going to take care of that for you. I would have appreciated it if He had handled it a different way, but then I'm not one to argue with Him. But this is definitely the epitome of light packing.

- my pillow. Despite the wine, the luggage marks, and the dirt of airplane floors, I am SO happy to have my comfy pillow with me. It's like a little slice of heaven that has been salvaged and I'm grateful!

- an appreciation for having to let things go. I will be thrilled to get my bag back. But at the end of the day, the work will continue and stuff will get replaced. After all, even though they were my favorite things, it's still just stuff.

- an attitude of thanks because I have my health, my limbs, and many means with which to continue on.

So tomorrow will be a shopping day! Thanks to RBC Insurance, I will be able to replace a lot of essentials. So until I get more news on my bag, I'm going to enjoy the city of London over the next two days. And then on Sunday night, I will be boarding my plane for Johannesburg. (Luckily in my carry on I have 3 pairs of capri pants and some light weight tops. Oh - and I had snuck in ALL my shoes in my golf bag. So no need to go shoe shopping. Thank goodness!!)

Time difference in London: 5 hours ahead
Time difference in Johannesburg: 7 hours ahead.

Hugs, Lisa