Return to Reality

The flight back from Alaska was extremely long.  For some odd reason, almost every return flight from Alaska is a "red-eye"/overnight flight.  So our departure time was 10:30 p.m. with a morning arrival.  Our arrival in DC was not without its problems.
First, I left my sleep mask in the seat pocket on the airplane.  Though I quickly realized this after deboarding the plane, the airline personnel were less than helpful in retrieving it for me.  So there went my $35 Tempurpedic sleep mask.
Second, we waited over 40 minutes for the first suitcases from our flight to start coming off the luggage belt.  Needless to say, our luggage was NOT among the first suitcases that came off the luggage belt.  So, a little more than 50 minutes after landing, we finally retrieved our luggage.  We will NEVER purchase tickets on US Airways again for perosnal travel.
The third flaw to our arrival plan was transportation.  My sponsor to my new assignment, Capt Marc Adair, had dropped us off at the airport.  We had left Russ' truck at my work parking lot at Bolling AFB.  Well, Marc's wife had her baby earlier than expected, so Marc was on leave.  My new supervisor, Lt Col Karen Cox, said she'd come pick us up at the metro near Bolling.  For some reason, we could not find each other.  After three phone calls and her saying she was at the metro without us seeing her, Russ finally started walking to the base.  (There were no cabs to be had at this metro.)  Keep in mind he was dressed for 50-degree Alaska weather and it was already in the 90+ degree mark.  On top of that, the area surrounding Bolling AFB is in the slums of DC.  We were both very greatful he wasn't mugged on his trek to the base.
So nearly 3 hours after landing, we were finally on our way back to the base lodging office.  We were wiped out, me especially since I'm incapable of falling asleep on an airplane.
Fortunately, our vacation had gone much better than our return to DC.