homeward bound

[snugglekitty]

This is the final account of my Atlanta travelogue. Thanks for playing.



I had planned to only pack and leave on Wednesday. This, I feel, was wise. I had a lot of time to relax. I ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant, showered, and did my first round of packing. (Deciding what I was going to wear on the plane, putting away my books, sorting things into piles based on what bags they were going in.) Then I relaxed some more. Then I did my second round of packing. (Packing up my toiletries, clothes, and incidentals.) I had hoped to fit everything into my suitcase, which I had done on the way in. This turned out not to be possible, chiefly because of the mobile, which was too big in every dimension to fit in the suitcase.

One of my best packing secrets is that of the Big Pink Bag. This is a Baggalini bag that trouble4hire got for me on a trip a few years ago. It is a big tote than folds up and zips into a small compact package. I try to always bring this bag with me on trips. Then, if I run out of room in my suitcase, le voila! A whole new piece of luggage. It's wonderful that way. It's also great for storing dirty laundry, since it's nylon it doesn't get smelly.

(I recently got a little sister for the Big Pink Bag - a Chico Bag. It's a great size - a bit bigger than a standard plastic grocery bag, with longer handles, and sturdy enough to be filled with books. Hopefully this will be good to carry with me when I'm not planning to buy enough stuff to take one of my larger bags.)

So, I put the mobile and most of my clothes in the big pink bag. All of the heavy stuff went in my suitcase. I decided to wear comfortable rather than uber-stylish clothes for the plane, which later struck me as obvious, but at the time was simply a Very Good Idea. And I realized that I was all packed (except for my laptop) with an hour to spare. Yippee! Go me! I confirmed I could get the fluffy movie I downloaded (August Rush) to play on my laptop in case of airport or plane boredom. I did my shield practice and stretched out. I read for a while, and felt relaxed and happy by the time I had picked to leave.

This time I navigated the shuttle to the train station just fine. I knew which train to get on, and got on it in the right direction. After a while, most of the other passengers had luggage too - we were clearly going to the same place. I explained to some other out-of-towners that we needed our MARTA tickets to get out of the station on the other side. This, of course, was a precursor to losing mine. Ha ha. I had a MARTA ticket in my hand but the exit said "Invalid. Invalid." And then it didn't and I went through. I got my boarding pass at the self-service kiosk using the confirmation number I had noted down from my itinerary email. I checked my suitcase and the Big Pink Bag.

I had looked at the food options in the terminal the previous day, so I could have a plan in mind. I had decided on Houlihan's, which had a large restaurant near the gate, outside security. I went there, and the hostess suggested I use the quiet seating in their upstairs dining room, which was a balm to my soul. I had a barbecue salmon salad and a glass of pinot noir, both of which were very good. I used their bathroom, because I figured it would be nicer than the airport bathrooms, which I think was true. Then I went and got in the security line with my little tote bag full of laptop, snacks, and books.

No trouble going through security that time, yay. I walked to the gate at a leisurely pace, stopped on the way for a treat (a decaf vanilla latte and some shortbread cookies) and waited for about 15 minutes before my plane was boarded. The only open seat on the plane was in between me and the other guy in my row, yay. He and I had a nice time chatting, mostly about my job, and I gave him my card at the end of the flight.

Then I was in Boston, and it was a physical relief just to feel the energy of my home city, the quality of the ground. teratomarty and trouble4hire met me in the baggage claim. trouble4hire had made a little sign with my name on it, yay. teratomarty had recognized and claimed the Big Pink Bag. We took the Silver Line to South Station, and the Red Line to Davis Square. Getting into my own bed was such a relief that I cried. Like I said, I really don't enjoy traveling alone.



The cats weren't mad at me for leaving, this time. Sometimes they are. Pretzel was delighted that I was back. Suzu was very happy to see me but concerned that I wasn't really Mom, that I was an imposter. Possibly the Atlanta air made me smell wrong. But all is resolved now, and they both slept on my bed last night. Awww.

This afternoon I leave for a second and shorter trip with trouble4hire, one we do every year. I will not have my computer with me, so you won't hear from me again until Monday. I mostly just told people I would be back on the 21st, for the sake of simplicity, and because I knew I wouldn't be up to doing anything yesterday. And I wasn't.

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[veek.livejournal.com]

When you get settled back in, let's schedule dinner.