Murphy's Law

So how was my trip back to Pittsburgh?
Well everything went fine until I got through customs at JFK airport.
I knew I had a 12 hour lay over so I wanted to hand my checked baggage, which one has to recollect on the 1st stop in the US, to Delta Airlines. But the representative said they couldn't process it until the next morning.
So then I looked for storage places within the 9 terminals at the airport. Was sent to terminal 4 for storage. Once I found the place I was told they didn't open until 7:30am while my flight was to leave at 8:35am.
I decided to go for a 1 night at the Holiday Inn.

Fast forward to the next morning: after the hotel's shuttle bus dropped me off at the airport I dropped off my luggage and since I already had my boarding pass since checking in in Amsterdam went through security just fine.
The plane arrived at our gate a bit late and we boarded slightly later than scheduled but okay. We taxi to the runway and then the captain informs us he's having problems with the wheel and he'd prefer to have a working whell and thus we return to the gate and deplane. Maintenance is looking at the problem and trying to figure out a way to fix it.
I tried reaching Brad who would pick my up at the Pittsburgh airport and who had my house keys. Couldn't get through to him so left a voicemail. Note that I had to use a pay phone since my Dutch cell phone apparently doesn't work in the US.
Meanwhile the airline informs us there's another flight to Pittsburgh at 11:05am. So everyone goes to gate 24 to try to get a seat on that flight. Once I get there the queue is long and I hear someone say they're only putting people on standby but not officially on a seat until the original 8:35am flight is cancelled.
I go back to gate 11 where the original flight was to leave from. After hearing my story they give me boarding passes for both flights since the original flight was set to leave at 11am.
Obviously I opt for the 11:05am flight and we board a bit late but again, okay.
We get to the runway and guess what?
Yup, this captain also reports some mechnical problem to us so we go back to gate 25. Fortunately maintenance is able to fix the problem this time around and we are finally able to take off.

Mind that the airline didn't want to transfer my luggage from the original flight to the actual flight that got me to Pittsburgh. I obviously knew my checked baggage would be lost upon arrival.
So I walk straight to the lost luggage office and file a report. Then I bought a drink so I'd get some quarters so I could try calling Brad again. Still not answering.
There's not much else I can do so I hop on the airport shuttle that would take me to CMU. Would since the bus breaks down like 10 minutes after leaving the airport. We wait until the next one comes and hop onto that one.
Once I get to CMU I can't get into my office since I don't have the keys on me (they're at my house) so I bug one of my colleagues so I can use his phone. Finally get through to Brad who picks me up and kindly helps me to get some groceries since my car is still at Vincent and Steffi's place.

Around 8 pm I call the Delta lost baggage service since they haven't delivered it yet. They inform me it should arrive between 8 and 10 pm or else the next morning. I ask for a phone number of the driver who will make the drop off but they tell me they don't have it. I bitch about other airlines who did give me the driver's number and tell her that they can leave my baggage on my porch even when I'm not awake.
Fortunately around 10:15 pm my baggage is delivered and nothing's missing like in Budapest.

Today I heard that Steffi was driving my car to the Waterfront for a nice work up but got a flat tire. Right now Vincent and her are trying to replace it with the spare tire. Haven't heard from them yet so I'll wait and see if they manage. If not then I'll just have the car towed to my regular garage and have them fix it.

Entertaining the neighbors with my music. I'm sure they missed it after 6.5 weeks of absence haha!