Upcoming Project and My Vacationing Suitcase

So. As you may or may not know, part of being an STL (Team Leader working in the office) for the Denver campus of NCCC is that you trade places with a field TL and go out with a team for the third project round, which we call shuffle round because all the teams shuffle up as well. I finally found out my project last week! It was my first choice, even though I was the 11th person to get to choose a project. It's an environmental project at multiple national monuments in and around Flagstaff, AZ. I Googled the ones listed in the project description that we will be working at and they look AWESOME. I was wanting a project in either Arizona or New Mexico all during last year, and now I have one! The only thing is that on the project description sheet, which provided the only information we had before choosing projects, under housing all it says is "Camping." Some other projects said things like "Camping with support trailer" or "Primitive camping," but mine just says "Camping." I'm fine with camping. Big Bend was absolutely my favorite project last year, and I camped for two months for that. I just want a few more details since there are lots of different kinds of camping. Really I just want to know how close we'll be to a bathroom and shower. Is that so much to ask?

The day after I found out my project, I left for Vermont for a long weekend (Thursday to Sunday of last week) visiting my brother, who is in grad school there. I had been wanting to visit and it kind of had to be before I leave for my project (which will be like March 14 I think) because once I leave for that, I won't be back until the middle of May. Obviously, the middle of May is a really bad time for anyone in any kind of school, so I had to go before.

Anyway. So I was flying Southwest, which lets you check bags for free. I don't have a suitcase here in Denver and I haven't checked a bag in like my last 5 flights, but I was able to borrow a nice small rolling suitcase from a friend and thought why not, it's free. I don't like checking bags because I'm a little too paranoid, and especially when you're flying by yourself, it's obnoxious to have to lug all your stuff around to go to the bathroom or get a snack when you don't have someone to watch it for you. So I packed up the little suitcase and dropped it off at the Denver airport. On my first flight, I got a window seat right where they put the conveyor belt to load bags onto the plane. I was staring out the window watching. I was pretty sure I saw my bag go on (it had a bright pink TRANSFER tag, which I saw the bag check lady put on, and said BDL, the Hartford airport), but it was a little black rolling suitcase that looked like every other little black rolling suitcase. The guy next to me said something about how he's had that window seat before, and it's always reassuring when you see your bag go on. I told him I think I saw mine, but I borrowed from a friend so I wasn't sure. Later, we talked about where we were going, and he said he was also going on to Hartford and said we'd have to book it to our connecting flight. I said I'm sure we'll be fine.

So I landed in Chicago, got off the plane, and looked at the monitors to find the gate for m next flight. It said Boarding, but luckily it was only two gates over. A lot of people were already on, but I still managed to get a window seat! (Southwest doesn't assign seats.) As usual, I chatted with the lady next to me a bit. I told her about how I got off the plane and this flight was already boarding, and jokingly said "I hope my bag made onto the plane." She seemed a little worried for me, but I said I'm sure it'll be fine, it was only two gates over.

I land in Hartford, turn my phone on, and see that I have a voicemail. It's someone with Southwest IN SEATTLE telling me that they think they have my bag there, but it has someone else's name on it. They also asked if I see a bag that's not mine with my name on it, to please turn it in. So I went straight down to the Southwest baggage claim office and the very nice lady there said that yes, the computer is saying my bag is in Seattle, but I could go ahead and look on the carousel if I want. I had already talked to Carl and he was running a little late picking me up, so why not. Most bags were already off the carousel by that time and it stopped not long after I got to it, but I did indeed find a little black rolling suitcase with my name on it that I had never seen before. When I went back to the office, the lady said that they could get my bag on the first plane to Hartford and it would get here tomorrow. I said Awesome!, but then remembered that Carl lives two hours away from the airport and I didn't want him or me to have to make that trip again. So she said they could Fedex it and it would get to Vermont on Saturday. I called Carl to get his address, and he reminded me that he lives on campus and they don't do mail on Saturdays. We hung up and he very kindly found a friend that lives off campus and could get mail on Saturdays, and he gave me her address to tell the Southwest people. Before I left, I asked if since I wouldn't get my bag till Saturday, did they give vouchers or anything for like toothpaste or underwear. She gave me a toiletry kit and said that if I bring receipts for buying stuff to replace what would have been in my bag, they would reimburse me up to $50. (Brief tangent: I absolutely do not understand why people get rude and angry in situations like this. This person works in the office. She had nothing to do with it. She seemed very happy that I was still smiling and thanking her even though I was going to be without my bag for like a day and a half.)

We didn't get to Vermont until like 11 that night. Carl had class from 8:30 to 12:30 on Friday morning. He had me drive him to class so that I could keep his car in case I wanted to venture out around town. It was like painfully cold that morning, so I knew that if I went back inside to his room, I wouldn't want to go back out in the cold, so I'd better just do my exploring now. I don't know how, but I found the little downtown area. The roads kept forcing me to turn, so I got confused and had given up and was trying to get turned around to go back to campus, when I saw a building I recognized from driving through downtown last night. Amazing! I had some pretty good breakfast and a cup of tea from a cute little cafe, and by that time it was still cold, but not painful anymore. I found an outdoor store that was having a pretty big sale, and bought some nice wool hiking socks and silk glove liners (which I had kind of been wanting since last year). Those decisions might have been influenced by the cold and my lack of warm clothes. (I had a sweater and my parka, but warm socks, gloves, hat, and a scarf were all in my cross-country suitcase.) Then I walked around a bookstore and decided to go back. While I was getting turned around I saw a used bookstore, which I love, so I had to stop again. I found the three books after "A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (which I read in Big Bend last year) for a total of like $10! I got back to campus with perfect timing to check my email and stuff then go to lunch with Carl after his class. After that, he needed a nap due to insomnia the night before, and I went out again to the always hated but sometimes necessary Walmart.

That night, it was one of Carl's best friend's birthday, so we went with like 10 other people to an Indian restaurant. I had never had Indian food before, but with a little help from his friends, managed to order something not too spicy (which I CANNOT handle) and really pretty good. We all went back to campus for cake that a couple other friends had baked, then played a pretty intense game of Oh Hell. Oh Hell is a card game that Carl and I had grown up playing with our dad's side of the family. He had already taught several of his Vermont friends the game, and they love it. It was crazy. I think I did better than I ever had before, and it usually would have been good enough to win, but Carl and a friend who usually loses did better. Carl had a nearly perfect game, until everyone set out to take him down, and they succeeded on the last hand. It was pretty fun.

Saturday was pretty relaxed. Someone we sat with at lunch that day told us she and some other friends were going to a jazz concert that night, so we decided to go too. Jazz isn't my favorite thing ever, but this band was really good. And it was in a big building that used to be a cotton mill, but ad gotten turned into a bunch of artists' studios and performance spaces. We all went out to a pub downtown after the concert.

So I forgot to mention that after dinner on Friday, someone from Southwest in the Hartford airport called me and said that my bag had just gotten there so it was too late to Fedex that night, but they could do it tomorrow and it would get to me on Monday. I said no thank you, I'm leaving on Sunday. They said I could come pick it up, but again, it was two hours away. So I said no thank you, please just hold on to it until Sunday when I come to the airport to leave. And then they gave me a $100 Southwest voucher. So I didn't have my bag all weekend. Between the toiletries in that kit and what Carl had, the stuff I got reimbursed for from Walmart, and Carl's T-shirts, I was pretty much fine. It was kind of weird to be meeting all these new people and going out and everything wearing my brother's shirts, but it wasn't that bad. His friends are all wonderful, and most of them had heard the story of my bag going on vacation to Seattle. It was a really good trip and I'm glad I was able to go.