Throwing money away

Last weekend we went to L.A. to visit some friends, and had a wonderful time. Overall, the trip was reasonable financially speaking, and we had absolutely no complaints...until the trip back.

As you might already know, airlines are farming out flights to other companies these days, and the instructions as to which counter one is supposed to check in are not always clear. We followed Travelocity's instructions, and waited in an excruciatingly long line (for self check-in, mind you) only to find that we weren't only at the wrong counter, but at the wrong terminal. We booked it to another terminal only to be told that we weren't supposed to be there, either. Finally, one employee with probably more smarts than her pay grade figured out just what flight we were supposed to be on--and it was at the original terminal. To make a long story short, I ended up having to go through security with a bag I'd intended to check, a bag FILLED with toiletries.

I wasn't upset to see the hotel bottles of lotion and mouthwash go, but I did lose a brand-new bottle of sunscreen, a barely-used bottle of foundation, a new-ish bottle of Olay Regenerist serum, and my most expensive skin care product of all, Paula Begoin's antioxidant concentrate. They did leave me with my concealer and my new gel eyeliner, which they failed to notice in my makeup bag. The most irritating loss of all? My favorite Mason Pearson detangling comb, which went unnoticed in the Zip-Loc bag of toiletries that the airport employee threw out. I did manage to find one on Ebay for about what I paid five years ago, but still...ack! I have a rough estimate of my losses but am avoiding making a firm calculation.