On The Road Again

Me and Morgan

My two-week sojourn in the States comes to an end this afternoon. The time has flown by quickly since my arrival on May 5. Brad was already here when I arrived, having left five days earlier for some business meetings.

I should have been making daily blog posts since my arrival but I didn’t (though I did manage to post a few pics on facebook). I filled my days with visits with family and friends, usually over lunch or dinner or drinks. Got my fill of some of my favorite foods (i.e. Maryland crab cakes, mexican food, thai food, chinese food, indian food). Visited with Brad’s family in Ohio where we played many a game of Shanghai Rummy and a few rounds of Scrabble. Attended Worthington’s first farmer’s market of the season and walked amongst the butterflies at Franklin Park Conservatory. Had a great impromptu lunch with one sister and a lovely day of shopping at Annapolis Towne Centre with the other. Got to meet JoAnn’s new kitty Desmond. Watched the extended season premiere of Mad Men and absolutely loved it. I simply cannot get the tune Zou Bisou Bisou out of my head…and I don’t care, because I love the song! Went to see Dark Shadows. I am a huge Johnny Depp/Tim Burton fan so it was difficult not to disappoint with that outing. And, best of all, though I hate picking favorites, I got to meet my grand niece Morgan.

Suffering a bit from travel jitters this morning — surprisingly, as I am a seasoned traveller. But I’m finding travel to be more of a slog than ever these days. The journey sucks, but being there is usually well worth the effort.

I dropped my rental car off a bit before noon today. The plan was for JoAnn to pick me up at the rental car facility so we could go out for lunch and then she could drop me off at the hotel where I would meet Brad after he returned from his morning conference. After dropping the car off, I spent about five minutes searching for my sunglasses, during which time I noticed my credit card holder was missing from its usual place in my purse.

In a panic, I ran back to the rental car drop off point to see if I could retrieve my credit cards. Turns out I’d left my sweater in the car but no one had seen my credit card holder. The car had already been driven off by an employee to an upper level where the cars are washed before being rented out again. They sent an employee up to check for my credit card holder. He returned without it. My panic level rose a few notches. I distinctly remembered my purse falling over onto the passenger side floor and I was convinced the black leather card holder was there, camouflaged by the black flooring of the car.

The nice rental car man drove me up to the upper level so I could check the car myself. Turns out he checked inside the wrong car. He was looking in the black Ford Focus but I had driven the black Ford Fiesta. Ahh, I was sure I would recover my credit card holder. But no! It was not there on the floor of the car. I was stumped. I knew no one could have had a chance to get in the car and take it. And that’s when it dawned on me. I had put the credit card holder in my back pocket when I filled the car up at the gas station. Sheepishly I admitted my mistake. The rental car guy was very nice about it all, as was JoAnn, who was waiting for me patiently in the parking lot.

Geez. I can really do without these last-minute panic attacks! So, I’m back in the hotel room now. Brad has returned from his conference and is packing up the last of his items. I’ll have to sign off momentarily and we will be off again. Maybe the journey won’t be so bad this time. I’ve got a great book to read (The Devil in the White City) and hubby will be by my side. Tel Aviv, here we come!