Incommunicado
I only have 15 minutes' connection time. So, briefly:
Good news: All my flights went okay. I expected to miss the half-hour connection in Dallas, but the SFO/DFW flight arrived early and the DFW/YYZ flight left late. Which would've made me miss the connection in Toronto, except that that left about two hours late. (I didn't hear 'til later about the mess in Toronto, but boy was their signage bad.) Good thing I had so much time; just traveling from arrival to departure took well over half an hour, and required two different buses.
Bad news: My checked suitcase didn't make it. My understanding is that United didn't tag it properly; it's probably sitting in Toronto baggage claim waiting for me to claim it.
Good news: Lola suggested that I pack a change of clothes in my garment bag, which I carried onto the flights.
Bad news: I didn't think to take the next obvious step and put the US/UK power adapter in my garment bag. So I can't charge my computer, my camera, or my phone.
Good news: I signed up for international calling, so I can call the US by cell phone relatively cheaply.
Bad news: So far, I have no cell signal anywhere in Glasgow, and searching for signal runs down my phone battery.
Good news: I can get wireless (if I pay for it) in my hotel lobby.
Bad news: It's expensive, and my hotel is a significant distance from the convention center.
Good news: I hear there's free wireless somewhere around the convention center.
Bad news: The convention has only eight Internet connections, 'cause they're expensive. And no way to attach a laptop to the Net. And no wireless. So if I want access to the Net from the convention center, I have to sign up 45 minutes in advance for a 15-minute slot on a Windows box.
Needless to say, this is all making me very tense. I suspect I'll spend a lot of time in the hotel lobby, as it's the only place (other than the rumored free-wireless places) where I can actually download my email.
This is all making me feel very cut off and isolated, and a little twitchy about it. I'm almost prepared to swear never to travel anywhere where I can't have Internet access from my room.
Good news: Stephanie B and Patrick S ran into me in the hall, and introduced themselves, and they and Aynjel K and I went to dinner together, and then we ran into Kelly L, so we stopped and said hi to her and Gavin and Rowe and Gwenda and the Duncans. Oh, and Ellen K recently found a fan letter I wrote her in 1987 and she said it was a great letter. All of which has helped calm me down a fair bit about lack of electronic connectivity. But still.
Oh, and did I mention I'm jet-lagged? I think I may've had three or four hours' sleep at some point in the last 24-plus.
