Travel Bugs

This week I would like to talk to you about my travel luck…or lack there of.  As you all know, I am away for a few weeks at a summer program.  I showed up and I was very excited and ready and I had everything I needed, and then it set in: my travel luck.  I honestly cannot explain it, but as soon as I leave the comfort of my home, I become a disaster magnet.  So this week when strange, ironic and unfortunate occurrences began to happen to me, I thought to myself, “what is going on?” But I suppose I should have seen it all coming.  Let me take you back to last summer so you can get a better sense of what I am talking about.

Last summer, I went to Israel for three weeks.  I flew to JFK with two of my best friends to meet everyone else who would be on our trip (it was one of those teen youth trip things that everyone says changes your life).  Prior to leaving I had tied this super obnoxious plaid ribbon onto my bag so that I couldn’t miss it when I had to pick it up at baggage in Israel, because let’s be honest, that would happen to me.  There was a security guard who was supposed to be watching our bags, but I guess she let her eyes wander for a few minutes because mid making friends, my friend Becky turned to me and said,

“Emma, isn’t that your bag?”

Sure enough there was a creepy man walking briskly away with MY SUITCASE.  No, not my purse or my carry-on, my actual suitcase. Unwilling to believe that this was happening, I tried to convince myself that it was not mine.  But then I thought, “No, stupid, who else has that obnoxious ribbon?”  So I chased him down and demanded my bag back, which I sat on for the rest of the night.

Then, once we got to Israel, we went on a hiking trip.  I forgot, for a moment, that Israel is a desert.  And after a long day of hiking, my feet were pretty darn nasty (sorry, that was gross).  I took off my shoes for just a second and stood up to get some more pita, and…OUCH.  Stung. By a scorpion. On a three day hiking trip.  On the first night. Of course.

Fast forward two weeks and I had an allergic reaction to my contacts.  Contacts! That I had been wearing for, count ‘em, THREE YEARS.  Why had nobody noticed that little problem before? I had to go to three separate emergency rooms, was yelled at in rapid Hebrew, and was forced to watch the Israeli version of American Idol…interesting. 

So I got to my summer program, and sure enough, ten minutes after my parents left, I dropped my phone for maybe the ten billionth time.  But this time the screen broke.  Great, left without a phone.  Lucky for me there was a Verizon store close by.  Then, my fan broke.  And it is hotter than Brad Pitt in my dorm room.  And then my blinds broke.  But who needs privacy when you live on the first floor anyway…

However, despite my bad luck, one thing has remained intact.  My bag.  I may be clumsy and I may attract dangerous situations, creepy people, and scorpions, but this bag has made it through it all.  Truly the perfect bag for all of your adventures. 

-Emma