I've arrived! ... in San Francisco ... ?

I ran into a few mishaps in the course of my outbound journey. I didn't realize I'd signed up for so much adventure .....

1. When I checked in at LAX, I was told that because I don't have a visa for Spain and because I don't have an outbound flight American Airlines wouldn't be able to check me in for my flight. They were certain that Spain won't let me in. I don't know if they are correct or not, but there was no arguing with my check-in lady. So I had to purchase a ticket to leave Spain. I now am $300 poorer and I have a flight from the Canary Islands to Dublin on January 25th which I may or may not board.

2. The first leg of my journey was from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I was supposed to be one hour in San Francisco and then connect to Dublin and then to Tenerife. But San Francisco had heavy fog so my flight from LA left an hour late and I missed my connection. The next flight to Dublin/Tenerife from SF is on Friday. Fortunately, my brother lives in SF, so I have a warm place to live for the next two days.

3. My luggage (see above photo) is somewhere between Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dublin, and Tenerife, but no one will tell me exactly where until I land in Tenerife. I have been doubly assured that I'll have all of my things when I land in Tenerife - that this kind of thing is quite normal - but until I land there I can't be told where anything is because of [as if this is an adequate and reassuring explanation:] September 11. So luckily I've got access to my brother's closet because otherwise I'd be freezing right now.

So the plan is now that I'll continue my journey Friday morning, arriving in Tenerife Saturday evening. Cross your fingers for me. In the mean time it seems my choices are to laugh or to cry, and so far I'm laughing.