Reunited and it feels so good!

I'm so happy to be back in Estonia and reunited with my relatives! It's been a long weekend, to say the least, but worth every ounce of stress. Saturday night, I got back to the apartment around ten. and was informed that flights in and out of Frankfurt were being cancelled... Of course my 11h20 flight the next morning was cancelled but the 9h30 flight was not... How that makes sense, I didn't know, I just needed to get rebooked onto it! Knowing my frustrating tendency to cry in situations like these, I knew I couldn't fix it over the phone as a normal adult could. So I called my mom's cell phone using Google, which had her confused for a second... In tears, I begged my mom to fix things for me. As I knew only she could, she called, waited on hold and got me switched onto the earlier flight. A nervous ball of stress, I literally couldn't sleep at all. At 5h00, I jumped in the shower after seeing that both my flights were still scheduled. By 6h30, we were on our way to Brussels. 

Upon checking in, the agent at the desk told me there was a flight that was supposed to leave at 7h00 that was still waiting for the crew and that he'd move me onto that one "to guarantee that I'd make my connection." Sounded great until I got to the gate. At first, I was told that no plane from Brussels to Frankfurt had clearance to leave until after 11h00. Then at 9h10 we were told that we could board at 9h15, which then quickly changed... Soon after, we were informed that the first flight out of Brussels would be at 13h00 but that our plane would have priority... At 10h20 the Captain came out to say that Frankfurt wanted us to come and that we could board soon... Two minutes later I was inching my way onto the plane. We were slowed a bit while we waited for a crew to remove the bridge thing... but we were on our way to Frankfurt and I was going to have plenty of time to eat lunch and catch my flight to Tallinn. Getting out of Frankfurt was pretty seamless, the only delay was waiting for the plane to be de-iced. Through it all, Lufthansa was really sympathetic to the stress of it's passengers... They gave us chocolate bars on my first flight and I was later served salad and beverages on the second flight. The Captain's message clearly indicated that he was just as frustrated and eager to fly as we were. 

The snow in Frankfurt wasn't the problem... it was that airports in Paris and London were shut down and rerouted through Frankfurt, overloading their gates. There were tons of people at both airports that clearly were in store to wait much longer than I had to wait. Though it was a long and stressful morning, I only arrived in Tallinn about 45 minutes late. But at the baggage claim, I could tell something was up... There was clearly a difference between the number passengers I'd shared the plane with and the amount of luggage on the conveyor belt... My bag never emerged... I was able to make do using my family's things but felt bad for others who didn't have anyone to offer them clothing and toiletries. Lesson learned: always, always pack an outfit in your carry-on. Then, the only flight coming in to Tallinn from Frankfurt today was scheduled to come in at 17h15... but didn't arrive until 21h15. Only three of the bags from yesterday's lost luggage came through... I consider myself very lucky that mine was one of them! "Reunited and it feels so good! " 

I can't wait to put on a clean pair of underwear and brush my teeth with something other than my finger! Other than the stress of traveling, everything is great! Estonia is loaded with snow, it's freezing outside, and my family is wonderful. What more could I ask for? Not a whole lot. 

Bisous, 

-kelse