USA Part 1: Getting Home
We arrived at Washington Dulles airport on Dec. 23 only to get delayed due to our stupid stroller. SAS wouldn't give it back to us plane side and made us wait at customs for it. It got lost and by the time they found it our connecting flight to Charlotte had departed. So we had to try and get rebooked for the next day. Customer service lines were over an hour wait for United because of heavy snows in Denver and Chicago. At least Patrick was a model baby and brought so many smiles and laughs to travelers that really needed a little cheer. It was miserable and exhausting but we finally had confirmed seats into Columbia for the morning of the 24th. We didn't get a comp room however did we get a great rate at the Hyatt so all in all not the worst. We had to get mom to come pick us up in Cola since we wouldn't be able to get a rental car until the day after Christmas. Of course none of our luggage arrived with us and we had no car seat for Patrick. So I had to smuggle him in the back of the car to Babies R US to buy one.
The lost luggage. Luckily I married a smart one who had purchased traveler's insurance for us. Mainly it is so we are covered with health insurance in the US, but a secondary part is their lost luggage coverage. All in all we were allowed to spend up to $1,200 buying anything we needed (clothes, toiletries, shoes, etc.) Wooohoooo free shopping! We didn't go too crazy because we didn't want to abuse it but we all three got set up with some stuff that we could really use. Mark and I both got dress clothes and I got new shoes and make up. These were all things we had planned to buy in the US anyways! We did have to do some work to get our stuff back though. It turns out everything went to Charlotte. They found two bags which were delivered to Greenville/Spartanburg airport on Dec. 26. We went and picked them up ourselves (since we had to go get the rental car there too). I was lucky and the one bag I needed above all of them was there. The one with my breast pump and I did not want to buy a 2nd one of those! The last two pieces we had to pick up at the Charlotte airport. Every time we called United they claimed they couldn't find them. And when we went they were just sitting front and center in the baggage claim office. Sheesh! Of course United's baggage service is outsourced to India so it's not like they could go look for themselves!
So it took us until Dec. 29 with 3 trips to different airports to finally get all of our luggage and ourselves settled in Spartanburg.
The lost luggage. Luckily I married a smart one who had purchased traveler's insurance for us. Mainly it is so we are covered with health insurance in the US, but a secondary part is their lost luggage coverage. All in all we were allowed to spend up to $1,200 buying anything we needed (clothes, toiletries, shoes, etc.) Wooohoooo free shopping! We didn't go too crazy because we didn't want to abuse it but we all three got set up with some stuff that we could really use. Mark and I both got dress clothes and I got new shoes and make up. These were all things we had planned to buy in the US anyways! We did have to do some work to get our stuff back though. It turns out everything went to Charlotte. They found two bags which were delivered to Greenville/Spartanburg airport on Dec. 26. We went and picked them up ourselves (since we had to go get the rental car there too). I was lucky and the one bag I needed above all of them was there. The one with my breast pump and I did not want to buy a 2nd one of those! The last two pieces we had to pick up at the Charlotte airport. Every time we called United they claimed they couldn't find them. And when we went they were just sitting front and center in the baggage claim office. Sheesh! Of course United's baggage service is outsourced to India so it's not like they could go look for themselves!
So it took us until Dec. 29 with 3 trips to different airports to finally get all of our luggage and ourselves settled in Spartanburg.