,
Squelching to an abrupt halt mid-way through peak tourist
season, the once over-burdened baggage claim carousel at Heathrow International
was quite the pathetic sight indeed, devoid of any tumbling, rumbling or
bumbling noises whatsoever. No longer belching
out any type of valise or carry-on, with luggage at a standstill, the once bustling
treadmill of baggage had completely conked out and had gone kaput.
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| Luggage, oh luggage, wherefore art thou?? |
Every couple of minutes or so, the carousel would hiccup,
spitting out randomly assigned pieces of luggage, such as that brighter than bright 70’s orange neon
one, you know, the one plastered with
dozens of those tackier than uncool slapped
on decals, brashly bragging of umpteen continents traversed. And even the very last piece of luggage standing, that
decrepit beat up old tattered one that’s held together with reams of sticky
tape, was hastily grabbed, lest, heavens forbid, the Gods of Lost Suitcases
revoke their claim on newly snatched luggage.
Having quite the field day in baggage claim with all pandemonium
breaking loose, the mischievous gremlins of Baggage
Gone Missing were in their glory, gleeful that their crazy ol’ shenanigans
to cause full-blown havoc were making quite the impact of the annoyingly
disruptive kind.
Doubled over in hysterics whilst choking on fits of impish laughter,
the not so nice gremlins of travel disaster
were on a mission to trip up the well-laid plans of any globetrotter in sight. With the goal of disrupting travellers far
and wide looming on the horizon, their ridiculously packed agenda included a
melange of twists and turns, a roadmap, or should I say, roadblock, to a
highway of impending baggage hell.
The dreaded curse of Empty Baggage Carousel had struck once again
and this time its target was none other than newbie world traveller
extraordinaire, Miss Kid, on her first grown-up sojourn across the pond. Surely her shiny brand spanking new lighter than light black backpack on
wheels is patiently waiting in the wings, anxious to get up and go and carry on
with the first leg of the journey, which, incidentally, wasn’t going quite as
swimmingly as planned. For, you see, an
unexpected glitch with all things baggage had gone awry, with denizens of
backpacks and suitcases now haphazardly scattered around the globe. Ownerless and homeless, yet even worse, left
to an unknown fate of spending the remainder of their long anticipated vay-cay locked
up, languishing in some stuffy old foreign terminal storage hold, awaiting
their marching papers. Like, seriously,
how fair is that? Bags packed, not ready to go.
 |
| Lost luggage - please come home!! |
And, to think, the initial start of the journey started off
without a hitch, with Miss Kid and side-kick (better known as Miss IGA, whose
nick-name, incidentally, was hatched from selling produce at her part-time gig
at a local grocery store chain), scoring big time; snagging those highly coveted
bulkhead seats, happier than you know what, cosily nestled in upgraded
economy class comfort of the almost
first class kind.
What could possibly go wrong?
It had all commenced upon landing at Heathrow, that gigantic
melting pot of 747s, suits and back-packers, all scurrying about the business
of jetting from Point A to B, on a race against time to high-tail it lickety-split
through temporary transitory holding hub in as quick and efficient a sprint as
possible. That was the plan, a totally
do-able one in theory, yet quite the far-fetched one in reality.
For you see, those devilishly wicked Gremlins of Baggage
Gone Missing had set up shop and moved on in, unwelcome squatters with nothing
but mischief on the mind.
Next week – Stay tuned!! Do the temperamental mood swings of Baggage
Gremlins out of Control get the better of Miss Kid and Grocery Gal, two
clued-out teenagers en route to the sunny beaches of Portugal, now travelling
with only the clothes on their backs?
Who will win the battle of luggage??
Are the gals eventually re-united with their knapsacks??
Due to quite the over-load of Pink Sneaker
commitments, my next blog post will be posted on Wednesday, October 29th.
Stay tuned for the continuation of the
adventures of Miss Kid and Grocery Gal in Portugal.
(Pictures courtesy of Maradzidra)
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