Reunited at Last- A Tale of Delayed Baggage

July 1, 2014:  Around 2:00am we arrive at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. We wait around in line for about half an hour and then security officials question Melissa and Jim for nearly 30 minutes about their travels and why they had been to Brunei, Malaysia, Jordan, and so on. Finally it is time to check in for the flight! I am weighed and placed on the conveyor belt to head back with the other bags. Before being placed on the plane, security officials empty me and repack me poorly. I worry they left out some items, but luckily everything gets put away. It is 4:11 and my search is complete. Only an hour to go until we take off!

The flight went well. We land safely in Barcelona by 9:00am. Only 3 hours until my next flight to Nador, Morocco!

It seems as though more than three hours had passed and I still haven't been loaded onto a plane. I am very confused. I wonder what Melissa must be thinking. I hope she realizes I'm still in Barcelona. I hear some people discussing flights. Apparently there isn't another flight to Nador until the 5th. That's no good! I have Melissa's brand new contact solution in me! She just bought it yesterday. It looks like I'll be missing out on Chefchaouen.

Chefchaouen

Jul 5, 2014:  Today I am finally picked up and taken out of storage. They are loading me onto a plane! We have landed and instead of going with the other bags, a man is taking me into a separate room. He's making a phone call. He calls Melissa and tells her that I'm here! For some reason she isn't coming to get me, something about a 9 hour bus ride. Apparently she wants me sent to Fes instead. The man tells her that they can't transport me via land and the only option is for her to come to me or to have me go on more planes. Oh no! It sounds like she wants me to fly again.

Donkey in Fes

July 9, 2014:  It turns out there wasn't a flight back to Barcelona until the 9th! I overhear a call between Melissa and the man. It sounds like she will be leaving Fes and wants to meet me in Marrakesh instead. I've just been hanging out in Nador while Melissa is off seeing Morocco without me. It's already been over a week, good thing she has travel insurance which should reimburse some of her expenses for various items that are packed with me. I make it safely back to Barcelona. It definitely has been nice just sitting around for a while, but I'm ready to be back on the road.

Camels in the desert

July 15, 2014: I'm pretty confused. I was under the impression that I would be going to Marrakesh! What happened? It looks like I'm in Casablanca?! Well this is weird. Oh wait! Another plane, yay!

Oh no, I'm back at Nador! Why am I back here? What's going on? The man just called Melissa and told her to come get me. He told her that I'm here at the Marrakesh airport. It definitely looks too much like Nador to be Marrakesh. Maybe I'm just a confused bag.

Nope. It turns out the man is confused. Language barriers can be awful sometimes. Melissa seems pretty frustrated. Apparently she wasted part of her afternoon and a bit of money to go to the airport to get me and I wasn't there.

July 19, 2014:  Over the past couple days I heard various people talking to Melissa as well as another woman. Apparently someone from the travel insurance company is trying to help out. The men said that since I've been hanging out on my own for over two weeks they aren't able to speak with her, only with Melissa. That makes no sense. At least she still has hope that we'll be reunited!

I'm finally loaded back onto another plane today. I hope I'm finally going to Marrakesh. Nope...it looks like Barcelona again. I really dislike this airport. It seems as though the staff here fail to read files and just throw us bags onto whatever flight they want.

July 20, 2014:  After a few dark days in storage I am finally put onto another plane. It looks like I'm in Madrid. That is strange. I don't want to be here. Oh wait...one more flight!

I've landed. A man from lost luggage services just picked me up. He is making a phone call...he is contacting Melissa! He just told her that I'm in Marrakesh and I'm ready to be picked up. It sounds like she will be on her way in a day or two. She just arrived in Zagora last night. I hope this really is Marrakesh.

Zagora

July 22, 2014:  I woke up to the sound of her voice. Could that really be Melissa out there? Keys jingle and light creeps in as the door is opened. I can see Melissa's huge smile as she runs over an picks me up. We are reunited at last! We enter the lost baggage office one last time and she signs a form acknowledging that I have been picked up. We head out past customs and into the main lobby of the airport where Jim takes our picture. It's just after 5am and finally I am back where I should be and will be able to resume my job of holding Melissa's belongings after 3 weeks apart.

This might help explain the confusion with wrong airports. Why didn't they take any off?

Together at last!