"Please don't die. Especially not in England."

I didn't die. Especially not in England. And I'm back at home in Brooklyn to tell the tale. Barely.

See almost everything that could have gone wrong on this trip did, and while it is currently almost 5 am Amsterdam time right now, I am going to do my best to tell the tale.

As you know, I got food poisoning. And I didn't make it to Amsterdam on Thursday when I was supposed to. I did, however, make it to a friend's house in London and spent the next day recuperating and trying to track down my luggage. I even went all the way out to Heathrow on Friday (something like 20 odd stops on the Piccadilly line from wherever) just to speak to someone in person. Although it took not only a conversation with British Airways but a trip to Terminal 3 to talk to American Airlines too, I'm glad I did because my friend Wendy whom I was traveling with apparently was using my baggage claim ticket to claim her lost luggage over in Amsterdam.

See, when I was sick on Thursday -- sick many times -- I shoved a bunch of papers into Wendy's hands so I could run off and find a toilet or a trash can. When I did this, I also shoved my baggage claim ticket, which explains why Wendy was accidentally using my info to try and get her luggage shipped from Heathrow to Amsterdam. Thankfully I was there to sort out the mix up before my luggage decided to go onto the Netherlands.

To make a long story short, I didn't get my luggage on Friday and thus had to go shopping on Oxford Street to buy things like shoes, underwear, toiletries, and clothes to wear to a wedding. On Saturday morning, backpack brimming with my new purchases, I took a train to Nottingham for the wedding. While there my friend received a text that my bags had arrived at another friend's place back in London.

Still with me?

So yeah. I'm back in New York. Amsterdam was lovely when I finally did arrive on Monday afternoon. Really really loved the place. Oh and did I mention that when I traveled back to JFK this evening my luggage didn't join me?

Yeah, the fun never stops.