Adoption debacle, part II

So, for a day and a half, we're in L.A. Our luggage is not with us as the UA rep said it was already in LA and could be claimed there.

We do have internet access, so we email everyone we can, explaining our situation and then just play games on our computer and watch TV.

I go downstairs and buy the only available brush and a couple of MIGHTILY EXPENSIVE t-shirts from the hotel gift shop. I have almost no makeup, no hair products, no cetaphil for my HIGHLY sensitive skin and I am about as unhappy with my appearance as a woman with a normal level of vanity can be. I look like h*ll and my face, after being washed in Denver and LA with regular soap is turning an unbecoming shade of brick red. Lovely. The only makeup I have is a cover-up stick a shade or two paler than my normal skin tone, lipstick which is too dark for such a pale shade of cover-up, and some mascara. Ooooh, pretty.

But...we do have a very fine chance of getting on the next China Southern flight, even if we are two days late. So we're not too unhappy, under the circumstances.

Okay. It's almost 5 p.m. We decide to head for the airport 2 hours before the opening of the China Southern desk and six hours before our flight to avoid any potential disasters. We're a little overcautious at this point. I guess it's pretty obvious why that would be!

We hang out for two hours. I eat sushi in the LAX airport. I'm impressed. Our midwest home airport has nothing like this. Neato.

The China Southern desk opens. We're second in line. We're happy.

The China Southern desk does not have our luggage.

Not only does the China Southern desk not have our luggage, but we abruptly discover that the cranky folks in Denver, in re-ticketing us on the 6 a.m. flight to LAX, have thrown away our luggage claim checks and, until that moment, we were too exhausted to notice. Uh-oh.

Well, no problem, we have four hours until our China Southern flight leaves for Beijing via Guangzhou-- all the time in the world. We head for the UA desk and, following their directions, down to the lost luggage desk.

We look through miles and miles of lost luggage, lined up along the walls surrounding the lost luggage office. Our luggage is blue. That was a mistake. Anyway, we search each and every bag and do not find our luggage. Hours pass, we search. We return to the desk for help. They notify us, as kindly as they can since we are obviously just about to completely lose it, that all the baggage information is wiped clean after 48 hours. Even if they did have our luggage tags, they could not trace it. Crud.

So. We return to China Southern's desk to announce we have no luggage. They are not impressed, but since we have booked some upscale seating, they usher us on to the plane on time at 11 p.m. I have called and left messages for our adoption agency which flight we are on, but have spoken to no one. At this point, I am convinced no one will meet us in Beijing.

We meet another VERY cheerful adoption journey couple on the plane. They are joyously awaiting their arrival in China since they have scheduled a few days of vacation in a resort in China before heading off to meet their adoption group in Beijing. As soon as it is polite to do so, I return to my seat and cry quietly for an hour or so. My husband holds my hand and manages somehow not to cry, too.