I have arrived!

It's official I have arrived. My flight left early on Saturday morning from Buffalo. My parents drop me off at the airport and walked me inside. My mom had a hard time saying bye, she waited all the way until I was through security and on the other side, safely waving to her before she left. She started to get a little bit emotional but I had to cut her off. If she cried, I would cry and everybody would cry, and it would just be a disaster. I need no tears because I knew if they started they would never stop. And after all, they are coming down in one week. After a layover in Chicago I arrive in Texas around 1 PM. I was able to sleep most of the way on the plane because it was such an early morning and I was so tired. Lucky for me I chose a window seat and a man sat in the aisle in the same row and no one set between us! So I was able to get comfortable and spread a little bit.

When we landed in Austin I had to peeeee so bad so I went to the washroom and then headed down to baggage claim. After a minute or so the carousel started moving and the bags started coming down the ramp and going around and around and around, finally my purple suitcase came but the carousel stopped, everyone had disbursed and my brown suitcase still wasn't there. I had to head into Southwest customer service and put in a claim for lost bag. They said it was still early and that
there were a lot of flights to come in so it would be there by the end of the day. So I headed over to the SuperShuttle, checked in and waited for my ride. I met a really nice man on the shuttle bus. He was on his way home from a week in Peru and he was sharing his photos with me. We were talking
about how I had just moved from Canada and he was assuring me that I would love living in Austin. We chatted the entire way to my rental and the shuttle bus drop me off. He wished me good luck and that was that.

I found the keys to my apartment in a lock box attached to the doorknob, entered the code and open the door to this cute little furnished bachelor apartment. It has everything one person could need. But just for a week. My new walk-in closet is bigger than this place. I unpacked the suitcases that I did have and tried to make myself at home by hanging my clothes in the closet and putting my things away in the drawers.

After waiting all afternoon and hanging out with my family via Skype, Southwest airlines finally called and told me that my bag had arrived at 4 PM and the next baggage collection pickup time was 6 PM. They give the drivers of four hour window because they have multiple stops and so my bag would be there anytime between 6 PM and 10 PM. Around 9 o'clock I started to really wonder if my bag was actually going to arrive. I'm only a 10 minute drive from the airport and I couldn't understand why it was taking so long. I had my mom phone to avoid long-distance charges and the woman told her that if the bank wasn't there by 10:01 PM that we should call the office back. Technically they did have until 10 o'clock on the dot. At 10:04 we phoned the office and it was closed my call went directly to voicemail. A few minutes after that I got a phone call from an unknown number, it was the baggage claim delivery service and they couldn't locate me because my street address did not match with the ZIP Code. I'm not sure why they didn't think to phone me sooner. But at that point he couldn't guarantee that it would be there before midnight! I was assertive to say the least. Without being rude I told him that I have been waiting all afternoon for my luggage and that I was promised he would be there by 10 PM. I was tired and didn't want to wait up for my luggage anymore so I asked him if he could make sure that I was the very first delivery in the morning and also guarantee me that my luggage would arrive before 10 AM. He said NO! he could not guarantee anything for the morning but he could guarantee that my bag would arrive before midnight. He said if I'd like to go to bed he would give me a call when the driver was about five minutes out so that I knew that they were coming. I said fine, really what other choice did I have? It wasn't about 15 minutes later when they called to say that my bag would be arriving in 15 minutes and at 10:45 it arrived.

Hallelujah!!!

I went to bed immediately and because I had been up for so many hours and I was exhausted I slept like a baby. The bed is so comfortable here, thankfully!

On Sunday I woke up and the weather was so beautiful so I showered and got ready and went out to the grocery store. I walked about four blocks to the Hancock Center, where they have my new local grocery store HEB. I got some salad fixings and some other things like yogurt and fruit for my lunches.

I've decided that I'm officially starting my gluten-free diet now that I'm in Texas although I was really craving a sandwich -naturally I avoided the bread section.

At the grocery store Eye of the tiger was playing and I turn down three separate aisles with my grocery cart and one woman with tapping her foot another man was singing to himself and another lady was full out dancing with her child. Two people on my shopping excursion told me that I smelled nice. And I had a really sweet grocery bag boy that helped me load the groceries into my reusable shopping bags and load the cart.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching Friday night lights, getting into the Texas spirit and skyping with the family.

I'd say all in all, a very successful weekend!!

Texas I have arrived!!!!!!!!!!

XO

L.