The Early Bird Catches the Worm

as per my last post, i didn’t receive my bag on saturday night. i spent a large part of the day on sunday calling american airlines customer service in america and the guarulhos international airport here in são paulo. that was a waste of time. i got a few different stories as to where my bag could be – “it’s being delivered and should be there within 24 hours”; “it says here that the claim has been closed because the bag has been delivered.” –  but not where it actually was. most of you know that i am slow to anger but after not having my luggage for about four days and dealing with the aa customer service shenanigans, what else would i be?

after not getting any answers, i could not wait anymore. i decided i would get up early on monday (today) to go back to the airport and find out what the heck was going on with my bag. i spent sunday night figuring out which taxi service to call. then i discovered that são paulo has uber so i was really excited! but when i woke up at 6am and tried to order the uber, it wouldn’t work. this meant i had to call a taxi, which was good because i really need to practice my portuguese. the dispatcher was super nice and actually understood me (thank god!). she proceeded to tell me that i had to have a local number to get a taxi and that they would not be able to come. i almost died. i explained to her that i don’t have a local number and that i would stand outside because i really needed this cab. she must’ve been in a good mood because she sent the cab, which arrived in like 10 minutes.

at this point, it was about 6:45am. we drove to the airport and i got the chance to watch the sun rise amidst the são paulo smog. it gave me a headache but i also was able to get a pic of the famous Octávio Frias de Oliveira Bridge. the photo is from a sleepy photographer in the back of a cab so i included a clearer image from the web so that you can get a better look.

morning smog  

cab view of famous bridge

Octávio Frias de Oliveira Bridge  

as i see the two pics together, i am not so sure they are the same bridge so let me get back to you on that. 🙂

it took about 1 hour to get to the airport through all of the smog and traffic. when i arrived, the folks at the information desk told me where the lost luggage office was located. i was first sent to the lockers outside of the airport, which obviously was not what i was looking for. then, i found the right place. i spoke with the rep, he went to the back, and after a few minutes came out with my suitcase! even though the top handle was a little jacked up i was so relieved to see it there. now the fun can really begin…

lost luggage now found