Where We Left Off: Adventures in Checked Baggage

Picking up where we left off in my last pre-break post from Riga airport...

I ended that snowy Saturday in March 2023 huddled in my rented flat in Edinburgh, wearing every stitch of dirty clothes I had on me, because the place was colder than a jilted polar bear's shoulder, and my luggage was somewhere in Germany.

It all started with the snow bucketing down in Riga, which meant my plane took off over an hour later than scheduled, set to land in Frankfurt at the exact time my connecting flight was taking off. So I paid too much for too slow in-flight wifi to try to get a new booking set before we landed. But because my next plane was also slightly delayed, the airline would only allow me to change my flight after I failed to get off the crowded plane and run from gate A11 to B30 in the 8 minutes I was expected to have for transfer. 

Turned out I had more like 15 minutes, and Bill Nye-level* speedwalking skills, so I just made it on to the plane before the boarding door closed. 

But unfortunately my checked luggage didn't move as quickly as I did.

When I landed, I had a text from the airline that my bag had been rebooked on the first flight in the morning, and I should talk to the staff at my destination to have them deliver it to me upon its arrival. But Edinburgh airport isn't all that big or busy, and the place was practically a ghost town at 8pm on a Saturday. There was nobody working in the baggage hall where my suitcase didn't arrive, no staff at the luggage help desk, no one there representing the airline. So after spending about an hour alternately wandering around looking for anyone wearing a vest from Menzies (the luggage handling company - no luck), and calling the phone number listed for baggage help (which just rang and rang 63 times, every time I tried), I gave up. 

Luckily Edinburgh's my second home and I could stock up on all the sundries and accoutrements I'd need to live there for a few days within the allotted time of a game show shopping spree. But not at 9-10pm on a Saturday night. So I grabbed a couple essentials from airport shops, and headed out to the aforementioned ice-cold flat, to complain out loud to no one for a couple hours as I waited for the radiators to kick in so I could finally get some sleep. 

Meanwhile, Lufthansa was really great with providing me details about the flight my bag was on and when it was arriving, which was useful, since at this point my only option was to go back and try to collect it myself. So the next morning, I did enough shopping to get me through the day, then headed back to the airport, arriving right as the plane with my luggage was landing. If all went to plan, I could grab it quickly and still get to Scotland's Six Nations rugby game that afternoon, which was what had brought me to Embra in the first place.

But what's that saying about human plans and laughing deities? Yeah...

When I arrived, I found a Menzies guy right away, who was really helpful, but told me that even though the bags would be off the plane in 10 minutes, they were so busy and understaffed that it might be an hour or two before anyone would have a chance to get away and bring my bag out to me. So I could either leave and make it to the game that Scotland was likely to lose to Ireland anyway, and spend my evening back at the airport on a wild luggage goose chase, or wait and probably not make it to Murrayfield. I decided to stay put.

There's not much to do or many places to sit in EDI airport, so I drank some coffee, ambled in circles (getting in my steps, yo), and just kind of hung around near the exit of the baggage hall for what felt like 97 hours, until I finally saw the same Menzies guy come out the door pushing a cart overloaded with bags, including mine. I followed him, and when he saw and recognized me, he stopped to get me my case back. 

My bag was on the bottom of the cart, so as he was in the process of unloading to get to it, an older English man in a business suit walked past all the people who were waiting, stepped between me and the baggage guy like I didn't even exist, and started shouting about nobody being at the desk to help him with his lost luggage. Menzies Dude was very apologetic, explained that they had staffing issues, and that he wasn't the person who could get more staff anyway. So English Male Karen (what are they called? Nigel? Colin? I'm going with Colin) yelled the same things a few more times, along with some red-faced demands to see the manager. But there wasn't any management working ('cause duh, it's Scotland on a Sunday!), which set him off even further, and he continued his high-decibel bellyaching for at least 5 more minutes, repeating his list of entitled complaints while all the bystanders stared in disbelief and Baggage Man just looked tired. 

Eventually Colin was satisfied that he'd done enough shrieking, turned, and walked away, with no resolution. Total tantrum, complete embarrassment, accomplished absolutely nothing. Typical Colin behaviour.

When he finally left, I got my bag and thanked the baggage guy profusely, because he really had been super nice and helpful, and should not have had to listen to that jerk's tirade. There's not enough money in the world to pay what people in service industries deserve for putting up with his kind of nonsense.

Anyway. With all the delay, I didn't make it to the game, but I did watch all but the first few minutes on the BBC... Didn't miss much, Scotland lost. I wasn't surprised.

*Not the Science Guy, the Almost Live recurring character, for anyone not familiar with 1990s local Seattle pop culture... which is probably everyone other than me.

Bon Voyage?

I'm currently watching giant snowflakes blow sideways past the window of an airport lounge in Latvia, awaiting my flight to Edinburgh. I started my current travels in London a week ago, cancelled a side trip to Lithuania to stay there longer, and have just spent 3 frozen days in Riga, where I saw my beloved popstar Robbie Williams again. 

But I purposely haven't published anything about any of it because... I don't know, y'all... Maybe the blog is over. Or maybe I'm gonna switch to a substack?

This blog has never had a ton of readers, but it's still been useful to me, because it's been a pretty comprehensive, and easily accessible, travel diary. It is much better at retaining the details of past adventures than my middle aged memory. But when the pandemic put me on a nearly two year forced travel break, my habits got broken. Now I only bother to write about my trips maybe a quarter of the time, and it's rarely in real time. Plus, ever since I left Twitter, I don't get much traffic when I do post stuff, because that was the source of most of the clicks. And I don't have a replacement for that. 

I don't want to lose my own set of travelogues, but it's hard to motivate myself to polish it up for public consumption when there's no public consuming it. So I'm thinking of modernizing, and while it won't fix the nobody reads it excuse to skip writing, at least switching to Substack would make me feel like I'm in the 21st century. And maybe change would be motivation?

So yeah, this may be goodbye to the blog and hello to the newsletter. Or maybe I will just let inertia win and stay here... 

I'll decide soon, but now... I've got a flight to catch. 

21 or 22 (Books and Records) for '21-'22

It's been quite a while since I wrote one of these end-of-the-year-list blogs, so I figured it was time. But also, because everything since March 2020 has blurred together to feel like it's been either 2 weeks or 87 years, or both at the same time, I had to cover more than just 2022.

So here they are, the books and music from the last 2 years that got a thumbs up from me:

Books*

Side Note before I start: To be considered for the list, the book had to have both been published and read by me in '21-'22. I read 124 books over the last two years, many of which were from 2020 or earlier, and bought innumerable new books that I probably will love, but haven't gotten around to reading yet (my to-read pile covers 4 shelves). So there's a bit of luck of the draw built in, and I'll probably read something next month that I wish I'd included, but them's the breaks!

1 - Broken (in the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson 

I love Jenny, and everything she writes. She also picked some of my other faves recently by way of her Fantastic Strangelings Book Club

2 - Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile 

I'm too old to call myself a Brandi stan, but...

3 - The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec 

A novel telling norse myths from a completely different perspective, loved it

4 - The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton 

Excellent novel for music nerds like me

 5 - The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin 

All I can say is 😭😭... But in a good way

6 - The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson 

Love me a multi-generational novel 

7 - Not "A Nation of Immigrants": Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz 

I remain a sociologist and history fan at heart. All of Roxanne's books are both super informative and engaging

 8 - The Ugly Cry by Danielle Henderson 

Best memoir I read this year

 9 - Olga Dies Dreaming by Xóchitl González 

A novel about two siblings in NY that sucked me right in

Records

10 - Ani DiFranco - Revolutionary Love

11 - Juliana Hatfield - Blood

12 - Lil Nas X - MONTERO

One of the greatest pop records ever, but you already know that

13 - dvsn & Ty Dolla $ign - Cheers to the Best Memories

Honorable mention to dvsn's 2022 offering, Working on my Karma, but this one edged it out for the list. Also A Muse in Her Feelings from 2020 remains on high rotation for me

14 - The Halluci Nation - One More Saturday Night

I absolutely love everything from The Halluci Nation (formerly known as A Tribe Called Red). The combination of EDM, Native traditional music, and activism may not be for everyone, but it is absolutely for me.

15 - Admiral Fallow - The Idea of You

16 - Frank Turner - FTHC

I think this may be Frank's rockingest, punkest, and most emotionally raw album ever. I know that sounds odd, but the combination is incredible

17 - Lizzo - Special

So what if this is on EVERYONE's 2022 list? It's an undeniably great album.

18 - Jann Arden - Descendant

19 - Mark Owen - Land of Dreams

Another wonderful (and slightly off-kilter) offering from my second favourite Take That member.

20 - Robbie Williams - XXV

Speaking of favourite Take That members... XXV is Rob's 25th anniversary celebration of his solo career, featuring re-recordings of all his hits with a full orchestra, plus one new song (or more on the deluxe version). So it's not groundbreaking, but it's really good. And any year Rob releases an album is a year that Rob makes my top albums list.

21 / 22 - Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days / In The Canyon Haze

Not sure if this counts as one or two... The Brandi Carlile Band's epic lockdown album In These Silent Days came out in 2021, and then In The Canyon Haze followed in 2022 with all the same songs, but new, sonically different, recordings. Maybe it's two albums, or maybe the combo makes up one deluxe version? I don't know, but any year Brandi releases an album is a year that she makes my top albums list, sometimes twice.

 

*I'm not going to take the time to add links for all these. If you're reading this, you clearly have access to the internet, so look it up your own self.

Robbie Williams Live in Munich... Again

I only seem to come to Munich for music. My first time here was back in 2013, for my second ever Robbie Williams show, and the last visit was 3 years later for Frightened Rabbit and Paws. This trip much more closely resembled that first one, in that it was also planned for a Robbie show, happened in August, and both times the night before the gig included big thunderstorms. Nobody asked me to marry them this time, though, so it's not exactly deja vu.

Anyway. When Robbie Williams - One Show & One Night Only -- a giant outdoor show for 100,000 people -- was announced, I woke up in the middle of the night to book my Platinum section ticket in the first minutes of the first pre-sale, and hoped Covid calmed its fool self down enough for me to go back to Munich. Since I've seen the city a couple times before, and the show was a bit away from the center of town, I prioritized the gig and booked a hotel that (on the map) was right across the street from the venue: Messe München, which other fans described as like a fairground. So while I figured the actual walk to the concert wouldn't be the 2 minutes that Maps quoted me, I guessed it couldn't be much longer than that, given that I could see the place from my window. 

Per the ticket, the show was supposed to start at 8pm and end at 10:30. But there were 2 openers, and Rob always goes for 1.5 - 2 hours, so I figured it was probably more like a 6:00 start. Since my busted back and knees rebel if I make them stand for more than 3 or 4 hours, and the only opener I'd heard of was Lufthaus (who I love, but they just DJ on stage, and I mean... I could listen to dance records at home), I thought I'd leave just before 6:00 and probably catch 1 1/2 openers with my maybe 10 minutes walk.

Nope.

At the appointed time, I walked down a pathway right outside my hotel door, that was marked for Messe, so I assumed it was just on the other side of the road. After 30 minutes of following the crowds all the way across a much-bigger-than-a-fairground area, past building after building, I finally saw an entrance to the concert venue of this behemoth place. But it was the West Entrance, and my ticket said Ost (East). There was no other gate as far as I could see, and every person around me was going in West, so I just went on in and figured there'd be a way to go in the right entry to the actual concert section inside. No luck. Every sign was West, West, West.

So I gave up looking, bought a t-shirt, got all my wristbands, and walked into my section right about 7pm... as Lufthaus started their 3rd to last song, and the other opening act was long finished. The section was PACKED, almost all the way out to the edge where you couldn't even see the stage. So I thought, if everyone's coming in the West entrance, there's probably way more room on the other side. There's some space along the back barrier (between Platinum and Gold sections), so I'll just go through the crowd and pass on over. By the end of the song, I'd hit a point where there were only 4 or 5 more people in front of me, and then a barrier... guarding the catwalk coming down into the crowd (aka the B stage), which extended past the back fence into the Gold section. I couldn't cross over. So I sheepishly found the nearest open spot that would annoy the fewest of the nice people who arrived earlier than I did.. and inadvertently got myself my closest view of Rob since the tiny Las Vegas theatre, at least when he came down the catwalk. It was the first time I've actually had to turn my entire body to keep watching him move around during a big show, since the larger section at the end of the B stage was behind me. Here's to getting lost?

Side note: I ended up standing next to a mother / daughter pair, who were interviewed and then filmed by a couple of press people right before the show started and during Let Me Entertain You. My lack of German skills limited my ability to eavesdrop, but I gathered they were chosen because the mom was wearing a Robbie concert t-shirt and the daughter had a big sign that said MY MOM IS YOUR #1 BIGGEST FAN. OK, that's cute, but no. #1 BIGGEST FAN? Not a chance. I'm closer to #1 BIGGEST FAN than her, and I'm not anywhere near the top of that list. I mean, I'm not even the #1 Biggest American fan. Although maybe top 5? Gotta be at least top 10. But on the overall, world rankings, I couldn't possibly be higher than like #563 BIGGEST FAN, and this woman wasn't even in the same league as fans I run with. Fake news!

Ahem. Anyway.

The show was incredible as always. I never have the words to say how amazing a Robbie show is, because no matter the venue, or how large or small the crowd, dude knows how to fill the room (or arena, or giant stadium) with his presence. And despite there being 200,000 hands holding up phones in all directions at all times, I got some really good photos of the big man. It's not skill, I'm just lucky to have long arms and a phone that's smart enough to make a picture turn out decently even though I'm waving it wildly in the air with one hand.

Since all RW shows are similar in some ways, with most of the same set list, I best remember the differences. I was really excited that they started the encore with the new single Lost, which I love. I must listen to it a lot, because I realized last night that I already know almost all the words, even though it's only been out a couple of weeks. And it was fun to hear Tripping live, maybe for the first time ever (at least the first I remember). 

Less fun a difference to remember was Rob leaving for a verse or so during She's the One, then coming back to end it and explain that he'd had to go throw up. I get it, buddy, that song makes me feel that way too. (Kidding. Kind of. That song's fine, I just never loved it. And after more than 20 years, I'm beyond sick of hearing it all the time).

But in all seriousness, when he told the crowd what happened, I immediately flipped from fangirl loving Robbie the entertainment machine and never wanting him to leave the stage to being concerned about Rob the person. I just wanted to say, No more songs! It's okay, these people don't need to hear Angels. Just go take care of yourself! Also, despite dark clouds overhead and a weather alert for "heavy and prolonged rain" issued earlier in the day for exactly the hours of the concert, the first drops of the night fell at the end of She's the One, and started to really come down after it ended. But our boy's a pro, so he stayed to sing Angels in the rain, and take a bow with the band before exiting stage right, with the huge crowd singing his song back to him. 

Hopefully all was well with Mr Williams when things calmed down, and it was just the adrenaline of the night hitting him in the stomach -- having 100k people stare at you for 2 hours could make anyone's nerves jangly. Even the world's greatest entertainer.

Brandi Carlile Live (for the First Time in a Long Time) in Chicago

 Last night I saw Brandi Carlile live in Chicago, in a crowd of 10,000. Last time I saw Brandi and the Twins live, I was one of maybe hundreds, and they didn't have a real record yet. And she was just as much of a rock star back then as she was on stage yesterday.

I've been a lover of the BCB (Brandi Carlile Band) since 2003, and still have two demo CDs on my shelf alongside all the other big studio albums, yet I somehow skipped all the live shows in the middle. About the same time that they went away to make it big, I slowed down on seeing live music for a few years. And when I started again, around a decade ago, Brandi was too known in Seattle for me to get a ticket. Every time I found out about one of her local shows, it was already sold out. Then she switched to playing the Gorge instead of the city, and... y'all... hell to the no on the Gorge. It's too far to drive there and back the same day, and the closest I will ever get to camping is a hotel with less than 4 stars. 

But during the pandemic I finally found out about the Bramily, which DUH I should've been a member of all along. And signing up for that was what finally gave me enough notice about the tour to get myself a good seat at the Chicago show. Because, yeah, I'll take a flight halfway across the country over camping ANY day.

I know it sounds like some kind of crazy bandwagon jumping being back now that everyone knows about Brandi, but c'mon... if you know me, you know I don't play around when it comes to music fanaticism.

I was trying to remember when the last time I saw BCB in person was, but it had to have been 17 or 18 years ago, and I saw a lot of their shows back then. Given that Brandi was still a local hustling to make it big, there were a lot of opportunities for live shows in Seattle when I discovered her in 2003, and even my completely broke ass could afford them. I know I went to a many a bar show, and made a few visits to a restaurant in Queen Anne where you could see BC and the Twins play an acoustic set for free on Sunday nights, as long as you bought something. So either of those settings could have been the last time, and it was probably in 2004, since I think 2005 was when they left town to make their first album.

It was before I had a million phone pics of everything I did, so I looked in my old blogging service to see if I could figure out the timing of my last Seattle BCB gig. I couldn't, but here are some excerpts of what I wrote about a show at the Tractor Tavern in October 2003:

Brandi kicked ass, as usual. Her CDs don't do her justice. Along with all the brilliant original material, she sang the hell out of Creep once again, and did the best version of Hallelujah that I've ever heard (which is saying a lot, because everyone and their mother has done that song).

Speaking of mothers, I bought a CD from Brandi's mom* on the way out.

I would recommend Brandi Carlile to just about everyone. She's that good. 

It wasn't my first BCB show, nor my last, but it seems to be the one I wrote the most about. Compare that to the ONLY thing I said about my first (absolutely incredible) Ani DiFranco gig in July of 2003: I just got home from the show and I couldn't possibly love Ani anymore right now. She just rocks the entire world.

Clearly there's a reason I'm not a rock journalist.

Anyway. Last night in Chicago. It was roughly eleventy kajillion degrees out, even after it got dark, but luckily there was a slight breeze and my seat was shaded by the stage, so I only sweated out about half my body weight during the show. Also, the only way to get seats up front was to be a Bramily member who got in on the pre-sale, so I spent the down time chatting with all the superfans around me about our history with Brandi, Ani and Celisse, tattoos, the upcoming Girls Just Wanna Weekend, feminism, racial justice... ya know, chick stuff.

The show was opened up by Celisse, who rocked my world, shredded on the guitar. She only did a few songs, but also got the chance to do a few with BCB during the headlining set.

Then came Ani DiFranco, who I just saw last month in Seattle, but who I'd happily hear play every night if I could. Ani's always amazing and inspiring, and getting to see her again alongside Brandi was one of the main reasons I picked Chicago as my stop on the tour. And as per the BCB way, Ani came back to sing 32 Flavors with Brandi and the band during their encore.

Then the main event! Brandi is, was, and always will be a rockstar. She killed it, as did the Twins. Who, by the way, were celebrating their birthday last night (although I think maybe it's actually today?), so Tim and Phil got to hear the birthday song from a full amphitheater before going back to the business at hand. 

My seat was down front, but sort of off to the side of the stage, so if I looked straight to my right I saw into the not-well-concealed backstage area, below one of the big screens for the folk in the back. There was a small open area between the stage barrier and the seats, and everyone in the first two rows got a wristband to allow them to flood that area. I was row three, so got the pleasure of staying in my seat. Or standing in front of it dancing for most of the night, actually. But because I remained where I was, I turned my head to see what was on the big screen while Brandi was telling a story about her family, and noticed Catherine Carlile standing there at the side of the stage, with both their kids playing around nearby. And it seemed like they were there for most of the 2 hour set. I love that. Not only that they go on the tours, but that they actually want to be there to see Brandi doing her job every night. What a family. What a band. What a night.

Oh, and Brandi's still doing Creep; with the help of Celisse on guitar last night. Same old rockstar from the Tractor!

*I have no actual proof of this, and I don't remember making the purchase at all. This is purely based on word on the street at the time, which was that Momma Carlile worked the merch table.