First there was the exercise in getting me repatriated with my broken hip. That was accomplished with great efficiency, and was definitely a New Experience to travel by air ambulance, ground ambulance, and three big jets--covering more than 9000 miles and nine time zones in about 40 hours.

But the repatriation of my adventuresome luggage has been a bit of a problem.

It's all because it snowed in Detroit on November 23rd. That delayed the takeoff of the flight to Amsterdam by more than an hour. And I had an hour and a half scheduled between that flight and the connecting flight to Nairobi. It was barely enough time for me to make it (I was the last to board) but, needless to say, my suitcase didn't.

Problem: The next day we left Nairobi for the camp about 600 kilometers away. I couldn't collect my suitcase. The safari people took my little tickets and luggage claim papers and got the suitcase when they got back to Nairobi. Under normal circumstances they would have brought it to the camp the following Monday or Tuesday. But Saturday I messed up those plans by breaking my hip. And the hospital I was in was another 300 kilometers from Nairobi.

Once I was home I tried getting in touch with the safari people by e-mail. But a nine hour time difference means that there's at least one extra day before any action gets taken. I was getting more than a bit "upset" at the lack of response, so I started cc-ing every e-mail to the appropriate person at Earthwatch. And I finally got some action.

Meanwhile, I had contacted UPS about getting it back, and filled in all the paperwork to have a UPS account.

This morning there was an e-mail saying UPS had picked it up and here was my US shipping number on it. And the happy news that I should have it in three days.

It's costing me a bundle to do this, but there is a chance I might be able to get reimbursed under the same policy that paid for my trip home (and expenses in Mombasa.)

I'm sure the safari people are glad to see the bright lime green rolling duffle out of their way. And I will be glad to get my "comfy" bras back, and (as I described them to the Earthwatch person) my slobby slacks that are perfect for digging. Plus there are a couple of books I bought that I am looking forward to reading, not to mention the brand new LLBean long-sleeved shirt of fabric that is SPF 45 (and no longer in the catalog) and the lightweight hat with a wide brim. There are a bunch of other things there too that can't really be replaced.

It will be good to get my luggage back.