sabbatical logs

​Said ‘see you later’ to my family in Italy.  I don’t like saying ‘goodbye’.  It is always so difficult to depart.  Every time I leave a little bit of me stays in Italy.  It’s heartbreaking really but that has been our lives for over 20 some years now.  I always wonder how family members whom all, for the most part, came from loving and nurturing circles don’t speak with each other.  I’ve known people who no longer speak with their mother or brother, etc. and usually over some silly argument or incident.  Life’s too short.  I plan on returning to Italy in May.  I can’t wait to see everyone again!  Well, I am now in Chicago.  After all that emotion of leaving my family in Italy, I had to deal with my luggage being delayed.  I flew Palermo to Rome.  When in Rome, we had an hour delay due to weather in Amsterdam.  I was flying into Amsterdam and then to Chicago.  So we all waited ON the Alitalia plane for an hour.  I believe the delay was partially due to the fog in Amsterdam but the very first announcement that was said in Italian was about baggage being on the plane and the passengers of that baggage were not.  It caused a security alert.  I was happy that Alitalia was diligent about this yet that announcement was said only once and then they stressed the delay being due to weather.  I wasn’t sure why they didn’t just tell the passengers again that they were looking into this security issue.  Maybe they didn’t want people to freak out.  So, we all waited and took off an hour later.  Fifteen other passengers had to catch the KLM flight to Chicago.  The KLM flight 611 was scheduled to depart at 12:40.  It was only delayed 10 minutes.  How were these passengers, including myself, going to make this flight!?  We all RAN!  The plane landed in the Amsterdam airport that is truly one of the most spread out and logistically one of the most poorly designed airports I have ever seen!  We RAN from one end to the other in order to catch our flight and the departure gate was also changed—what a mess!  Caught the plane yet unbeknownst to me, my luggage (which I paid an extra $100 to check in two bags) did NOT make the flight.  A ten-minute delay was not enough time to get our luggage on that plane.  I am thankful to have arrived safely in Chicago but the stress of KLM continued once I had to deal with KLM in order to track down my luggage.  I filled out the forms and then called their baggage service number everyday, every 2 or 3 hours, and EVERY time I called, someone told me something different about where my luggage was…well, to make a long story short, I FINALLY received my luggage but if it hadn’t been for my phone calls, I would not have gotten a single call from KLM about the whereabouts of my bags!  The incompetence, the unsympathetic nature, and overall unprofessionalism of KLM were absolutely HORRIFYING!  NEVER again will I fly KLM and I STRONGLY advice anyone against it—Read the Consumer Affairs Report online reviews and you will understand!  I made the mistake of not reading the KLM reviews before booking and got a first-hand understanding of why KLM has such poor rating.  I filled out a complaint and I am now hoping to get my $100 refunded.  Now, all I can do about it is wait as I did with my missing luggage and had done while in Rome due to suspicious baggage and a foggy Amsterdam.