It's not easy getting to North Dakota!

I think the airlines have something against North Dakota. I can fly anywhere else in the world with little to no difficulty, but every time AJ and I try to go to North Dakota, we encounter serious obstacles.

On my first trip to meet AJ's family in '05, we got stranded in White Plains, New York for 24 hours, then bumped off of our connecting flight in Minneapolis and then finally re-routed to Grand Forks instead of Minot (adding several hours to an already long trip).

Last Christmas, we got stuck in the Denver blizzard and our flight to Minot got cancelled altogether. The airlines were so helpful and graciously offered us a flight on Christmas day (instead of the 21st), which would have been so perfect considering we had to go back to New York on the 26th...but we declined.

Since the cancellation was weather-related and thus not their fault, they wouldn't move us to another airline, and of course all of the rental cars in the Denver area were long gone. So Dad drove us seven hours to Spearfish, South Dakota, where we met AJ's dad who drove us another seven hours to Minot.

This year wasn't quite as bad. We opted to fly into Bismarck instead of Minot, where at least we have the choice of more than one airline. We booked flights from Albany to Dulles to Denver to Bismarck. (You cannot fly from Albany to North Dakota with less than two stops. It is faster to fly to Europe... and it often costs less too.)

Anyway, we were supposed to arrive in Bismarck at 6:32 p.m., but I know by now that no matter what itinerary we book, we will come in on the very last flight there is. Sure enough, our flight in Dulles got cancelled (mechanical failure), leaving us four hours to play hearts, drink Dunkin' Donuts coffee, and people-watch. We caught the last flight to Bismarck from Denver and got in around 10 p.m.

You'd think given the amount of time we gave them to move our luggage from one plane to another that our bags would have arrived with us, but no. We must have looked pretty pathetic standing next to the baggage carousel watching the empty conveyor belt go 'round and 'round until one of the workers said, "That's all there is." What?!

AJ got his bag, but mine and the presents were MIA. "Okay, don't panic," I told myself, "they'll come tomorrow. It's only all your favorite clothes, three pairs of shoes, your new down jacket, your toiletries and ALL OF YOUR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! No problem."

So I checked the online "bag tracker" the next morning, where you get updates on "delayed" (not lost) baggage, and it said, "Unfortunately, your baggage has not yet been located. Please check back in a few hours." Hmmm... so my "delayed" baggage has not been located? That's weird. Kinda sounds like it's a bit more than tardy.

I checked back a few hours later and got the same message. Then a few hours later: again, same message. And then I finally told myself, "c3, your luggage is not coming today."

Okay, I don't know about you, but I can only wear the same outfit for so many days before I start to lose it. So, I did what I had to do... I went to the mall. It was difficult, but I managed to buy two very cute pairs of jeans, two sweaters, and a tank top.

Later that night I got a call from the airline saying that my bags would be delivered in the morning. I beamed, and AJ said, "Oh good, now we can take back all of those clothes," to which I replied, "Don't be silly, honey, that's compensation for the emotional trauma."

(I have since been accused of bribing the airline to lose my bags for those two days, but I vehemently deny all such claims.)