Good grief, what day is it?
For some reason, I thought it was Monday. Now I realize it's Tuesday. After a flexible travel schedule and an all-night airplane trip, my body is very confused!
The journey was fine. I had a moment of in-flight panic when I reached into my pocket and my PASSPORT WASN'T THERE. I always fly with my passport in my pocket. I began frantically searching the seat around me, the floor, the seatback pouch. I needed the passport to board the plane, so I knew it couldn't have gone far. Then I dropped my eyeglasses under the seat and, because space was too tight for me to bend over, I couldn't reach them. "Oh, for f*ck's sake!" I said out loud, and it was my perception -- possibly just my imagination -- that the woman sitting next to me became slightly less friendly to me after that little expletive.
And then I found my passport in my camera bag. Where I never put it. My heartbeat gradually returned to normal. I told my seatmate what had happened and apologized for being "disruptive." She said it was no problem.
You'll be glad to know my Kapok Tree Inn glasses survived the trip just fine. I packed them in my suitcase, surrounded by layers and layers of bubble wrap. (In fact I bought a pack of bubble wrap specifically for that purpose -- it cost approximately 15 times more than the glasses themselves!)
Dave and Olga are happy to see me, and I them. And now, I will struggle to stay awake until a respectable hour.
(Photo: Painting a garage in Camden, late July.)
I had a similar passport panic on my way back from Kefalonia. Someone had put it in the long side pocket of my walking trousers.
ReplyDeleteWELCOME BACK TO ENGLAND! (If London counts as England... I'm not sure).
So glad you're home! And the losing of the passport is just like something that would happen to me and in fact, does happen to me all the time. I check the contents of my purse at least fifty times a day when I'm traveling. Like, in Cuba.
ReplyDeleteSo we were in the Chinese Buffet yesterday and I was on one side of the buffet line and a guy was on the other. He seemed to not be sure of what he was doing and hesitated by the plates. I'd already gotten my tiny little bowl of wonton soup which was all broth and one wonton and reached in front of him for a spoon. He burst out with "Jesus Motherfucking Christ!" and I just stood there. Was that directed to me? For getting a spoon on his side of the buffet? It was just my hand, not my body.
Weird. I scuttled back to the table with my little bowl of soup.
Maybe at least a nap to help get through the first day home.
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate the passport panic. It is just too much to think about with the passport , tickets,carryon, etc. and we put things somewhere "safe" and then instantly forget where.
Have a nice walk with Olga to get back to your routine.
What does Dave think of the Kapok Tree glasses? They are tall and curved, right?
ReplyDeleteWelcome back!
Glad you made it home in spite of the passport scare. That would have put me into a panic too. In fact, I have had dreams about forgetting that most important document at the moment of departure. I've also done the same thing of putting something very important in the oddest place with no memory whatsoever of why I put it there. Our brains work in such mysterious ways.
ReplyDeleteI don't know but when I travel across the USA and over the Atlantic , through the night and several time zones in the germ soup that is Delta, I MUST sleep when I finally land, for two days, invariably I come down with airplane illness two weeks after- I always pack cold meds but they are short lived. AND I would think that muttering Fuck and distancing the person next to me is a good thing. I do not want to chat, unless they give me a dollar for every word uttered. I would be OK with that! Flying is just something one has to get through . So glad you are home safe and sound. You family must have missed you terribly! Passport scare, a nightmare!
ReplyDeleteMisplacing/losing passports, unfriendly strangers, too-friendly strangers, germs on the plane ... these things are not helping the fact I already do not ever want to fly long-distance!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found your passport. Very glad! I've had the total brain block thing many times. I'm very sensitive to it. My husband has started having it, too, but he still thinks it's me. Maybe it is. Crap.
Laughed out loud at Ms Moon's story.
glad you found your passport. some people just don't appreciate profanity. I don't trust people like that. I'm constantly checking my pockets and carry-on to make sure things are still where I put them when I travel. it's good to be home.
ReplyDeleteWelcome home oldbean
ReplyDeleteA couple of times I've put my wallet in a different place and does the blood pressure rise when I go to look for it..!
ReplyDelete