I attend school at Syracuse University and I grew up in Northern California. I am a freshman and my travel plan to come back to school become quite complicated. For example, this most recent trip after coming back from Christmas break, I ran into several complications. Usually, when I travel across the country to return to college it takes the entire day.

I live right outside San Francisco, in the Bay Area. I have a ton of friends that go to school either at Stanford, Cal Poly, or Santa Clara, etc. My cousin and basically my best friend ever is a freshman at Santa Clara. So, I wanted to visit her, this happened to be my last night in California. My flight back to school was the next morning.

I went with one of my best friends who was also home at the time and we went to go check out college life at Santa Clara. I had been there many times, but I just wanted to see how my cousin was doing and adjusting because she was from out of state. We went out and one thing led to another.

Long story short I got back to my house at 2 a.m. and had a 6:30 a.m. flight, that same day. So, I was dying. The flight left at 6:30 a.m., which meant I had to get up at 4:50 a.m. So, that was pretty awful. My first flight always goes through Chicago. I love the Chicago airport, except for I never have any time to hang about because I have to basically sprint to my connecting flight to Syracuse.

Anyway, when I got to SFO, I discovered that I was boarding group 4, per usual, so I had to wait. Once I got on the plane there was hardly any overhead compartment space, so I put it in the last empty place, which was above row 12. Although, my seat was all the way back at 29. Anyway, I was just happy I found a space.

I feel asleep before the plane took off and remained asleep, despite the tiny wake ups from people trying to get to the bathroom (I was on the aisle). We landed in Chicago safe and sound. It took forever to get off the plane and I was already stressing about how fast I needed to walk to get to Concourse E, when we were currently in C.

I walked down the aisle to get off the plane and looked right above row 12, and the whole bin was empty! I looked the left, also empty. I was screwed. I remained calm and thought maybe a flight attendant moved my bag to another compartment. So, I waited for the remaining people to get off the plane (which took forever) and I looked in every single one, all empty.

I found only a small tiny carry on and a navy-blue bag slightly bigger than mine. It was the same brand as mine, but definitely, a way older model and it had a tag. At this point, I was freaking out. My next flight started boarding in ten minutes and my bag was nowhere to be found. I had my backpack with my computer and phone, but my clothes were gone.

I started telling this to the flight attendants on board and they were no help. I went out and talked to the gate agent and he basically just told me to sit tight and wait for the person to return it. Except, I couldn't sit tight because at this point my flight was two minutes away from boarding.

My ears were also fully plugged from the plane, so I had trouble hearing people and I had no idea how loud I was actually speaking. Safe to say it was a disaster. Then the pilot came out with the two neglected bags that were left on the plane. He handed the gate agent the navy blue one and said to call the number on the tag.

The gate agent got ahold of the woman, who had taken my bag instead of her own. The gate agent suggested we meet somewhere and exchanges the bags. I was so grateful. We agreed to meet at the escalators and all I knew was that it was a woman and she was wearing a beige top.

The airport was packed, and I waited by the escalators for 10 minutes, no one showed. I thought I went to the wrong escalator and kept on walking. I realized I was in the right place initially and walked back. I didn't see anyone for another 10 minutes, then finally I spotted my suitcase in a woman's hand, who happened to be searching the crowd, just like me.

It stressed me out just looking at my phone because of how late I was, so I just tried to avoid it. I went up to the woman and she said my name and I said Yes. Then she says, "that might have been on me" and nothing else, no apology, nothing. I was too stressed out to be mad and there was no time to demand an apology, so I replied with, "no, you're all good" and I started running.

Well Concourse E was quite far, and I reached an elevator going up at one point. There was two going up and two going down. I went on the less crowded one going up and as its rise to the top, this old man on the escalator right next to me (also going up) drops all these bags. I mean his suitcase and carry on falls backward.

The next thing I know people are yelling saying stop the elevator and someone help him! I look over and the old man has fallen backward (while the escalator is still moving up) and is struggling really hard to get up. There's a guy ahead of them who stops the elevator and all the flight attendants and pilot at the nearest gate rush to his aid.

I had never seen anything like it. I was in so much shock I didn't even know how to respond. The man got up and was just fine, but everyone who saw the accident was very worried and freaked out. After the escalator incident, I wasn't too far. I walked by all the delicious restaurants that I would love to stop at and the popcorn stands, but I had to continue on.

Finally, I made it to the gate and they had just started boarding group 1, this was about twenty or so minutes after they said they were going to board. I was furious, but also relieved. I ran to the bathroom because I really had to go, I knew I had time because I was group four, and the bathroom was literally right next to the gate.

As I was rushing out of the stall to the sink, I accidentally knocked over one of those yellow stands that are there for spills and ran past it. This woman who worked at the bathroom glared me down with, I'm not joking, one of the scariest books I have ever seen.

When I was exiting the bathroom, I picked up the sign and put it back in its place and ran over to my gate just as they were boarding group 4. I was literally one of the last people to board. And I made it to Syracuse. That is my crazy adventure, I hope you enjoyed. J