In order to beat the 8 AM posting deadline for this week's post, I decided to report on what turned out to be a very inauspicious ending to an otherwise mediocre vacation.

The airline lost one of our bags.  Actually they didn't lose it, they know exactly where it is, along with the bags of quite a few other passengers. It seems there was a problem with the baggage handling equipment in Madrid, so quite a few bags did not make it on the plane.  

So after waiting for an hour in the baggage claim area, what turned out to be a 1 hour 50 minute layover, turned out to be barely enough time to make our connection, due to the long security check in line at the next terminal.  Fortunately the plane was late leaving.

But my hat's off to TSA personnel for their tremendous perseverance in finding even the most innocuous of items that might get accidently placed into your carry on baggage.

At the security check in Chicago's O'Hare Airport, a TSA security agent managed to find a small tube of an antibiotic ointment (similar to Neosporin), which we purchased in Italy after my wife cut her finger, which we were forced to give up.

Had she had a perscription for it though, she could have brought it on board.  Smart huh???

It seems to me, Islamic terrorists, or any other terrorists, don't have to perform another act of terrorism to succeed in making our lives miserable. 

All they have to do is threaten or pretend to do harm, and our government will jump through hoops to figure out how to make traveling any where in the world that much more cumbersome, while eliminating many more of our inalienable rights. 

And all this while we waste billions of dollars in a war in Iraq, while neglecting bigger problems at home.

That all being said though, it's still good to be home!

Anywaze, enough of the political rant.  I should be back on track before the next deadline, and if you're interested in a complete report of our entire trip, check out my personal blog, in a day or two.