Trip woes

I seriously don't know how this shit happens to us.

We arrived at our trip destination on Saturday, in the Caribbean, and our primary suitcase, the one with all of my clothes, shoes and toiletries, was lost, sent to another destination back in the U.S.  B had a couple of his own T-shirts and shorts (although he is missing most of his clothing, all of his underwear and toiletries) and C.T. actually had most of his clothes in another bag that made it here, but my stuff - all missing.  No clothes, no make-up, no sunscreen, no special hair-taming stuff, no flip-flops for the beach, NO UNDERWEAR.  When we arrived, and really until yesterday when the markets and shops were actually open, all I had were the clothes and shoes I wore for travel, all of it much more appropriate for the weather in the states where there is also air conditioning.  I have been wearing these ridiculous suede loafers to the beach because I have nothing else.  There are no stores or brands here that are familiar to me, and all of it is labeled in French and costs at least two times what it would in the states. We have spent hours and hundreds of dollars just trying to find sorry substitutes for just some of the stuff that was neatly packed in our bag. 

It is now Tuesday, Day 4 of our vacation, and the bag is still missing.  They think it's in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, but the outsourced baggage customer service group (incidentally, in India!) can't get the local airport baggage employees in Harrisburg to answer the damn phone.  We have spent hours on the phone with the airline, ringing up hundreds of dollars in charges, imploring them to find and send our bag.  We have tried to reach Harrisburg ourselves.  Nothing seems to trigger action on our behalf or for anyone to own our plight.  Poor C.T. has been dragged through all of this while he should be soaking up beach time.  

I know this stuff happens all the time, but wow, how it stings on what should be a relaxing bereavement trip.  I should have worn a special button on travel day indicating that we are headed to the Caribbean because our son died.  Shouldn't there be preferential treatment for grieving families..., or at least some rule that says employees should take extra care to ensure trips go smoothly for folks like us...?  Couldn't our bags have just made it to our destination?  Ugh.  

God, I miss Zachary.  We shouldn't even be here.  We should be home with him, not spending a ton of money on a trip that isn't even allowing us the quiet time to grieve and just be together that was intended.  I also really wanted this trip to be "good" for B, who went back to work on the Monday after Zachary's funeral.  Since then, there hasn't been any block of time for him to be still in his grief, to be with us, without responsibility. 

I have much, much more to say about this, but having wasted so much time on phone calls re:baggage and on trips to random shops to "replace" items we need, I should try and salvage what's left of this trip...