Arrived, Finally

The disctinct smell of Kosovo smacked right in to me the moment I stepped out of the plane (in Pristina, you deplane outside). What does Kosovo smell like? Yesterday it was burning plastic and dirt. Mmm-mmm...burning plastic and dirt.

Only one of my bags didn't make it here. Unfortunately, it was the bag with all my clothes in it. In fact, neither of my two other bags contains any clothes. Well, that's not entirely true. I have managed to unearth a polo shirt, a pair of track pants, and a scarf. Oh, and a rain coat, which is very good because it's rainy. Usually I do a better job of distributing stuff, but I didn't this time. Next time I'll be sure that each bag contains a sweater, a top, and a clean pair of pants. You'd think I'd be a better packer. At least I have plenty of cereal bars, hot chocolate, and graham cracker crumbs should I need 'em.

After all the problems I encountered with United (note to people travelling to Kosovo: if a United rep gives you the third degree about needing a visa, tell him/her that he/she needs to scroll to the bottom of the Serbian visa info to find the correct information). United almost derailed my trip twice because the customer service person wasn't taking the time to read through all of the information they needed to about Kosovo. I was a bit worried because I have no idea how I would prove that I do not need a visa for Kosovo (maybe I could have seen if they would look at the State Department website). Luckily, with a little patience on my part, I managed to get myself rerouted and here I am, without clothes and smelling burning plastic.

During the ups and downs of my travel, I did think, more than once, that none of this would have happened if I were instead returning to Japan. It's too late, but is this some sort of a cosmic hint?