Home sweet home, The End.

The journey back to Taiwan, dreaded and loathed as it was, was inescapable. Yet, dreaded and loathed as it was, my return to normal life with an abnormal work schedule didn't seem so bad. Because I already knew.

I started packing on the last day. All the souvenir shopping and the more-than-usual clothes shopping and the Costco runs had created a build up of plastic bags around my suitcase, but still I was only bringing back 1/3 the amount I'd brought over (and only 1/3 of which was actually mine...), so I nested the smaller suitcase within the larger one. The more "fragile" items - like cartons of Tazo chai tea mix (from Costco, nummy, can't wait to try that out) and some bottles of maple syrup - were wrapped in clothes and additionally padded by the suitcase buffer.

After my boyfriend drove me around collecting last minute purchases, I zipped up my suitcase (with an itty bit of difficulty), locked it, stowed my laptop into my carry-on pack, and off we went to the airport.

Finally making it to the baggage check-in counter, the attendant informed me that my suitcase was 2kg overweight. Doh. She told me to just remove 1kg and it'd be okay, so off to the side I went to see what I could take out.

Except that I couldn't find the lock key.

I tried unsuccessfully to pick the lock with a hair pin (it looks so easy in the movies), and about 15 minutes of panic later, I sheepishly went back to the attendant and asked her where I could get my lock cut off. I also asked what the fine for overweight luggage was. A whopping $600. Yes, Canadian dollars. Ouch.

After pleading with her that I just couldn't get into my luggage case, she took pity on me and said she would tag the suitcase "heavy", meaning it would be at the bottom of the luggage dogpile, and anything I had inside would risk getting squashed. I hesitated, but having faith in my double-baggaging (and opting not to pay the 600.00CAD fine), I accepted.

The rest of the way home wasn't very eventful. Admittedly, I didn't feel well-rested after my trip home, trying to visit friends, pick up souvenirs and stuff; but work was relatively peaceful. Because I was half asleep most of the day. And then under the quite-valid excuse of jet lag, I left shortly after dinner. I managed to borrow a metal saw from my company's "building maintenance" group, and in a short 10 minutes, freed my suitcase contents.

Oh, and on the following weekend, I was up in Taipei at my brother's place. And while getting cleaned up for the night, in my toiletries pouch, I found... the lock keys. I knew I had packed them! Ah well, too late now.