Python Hides in Woman's Shoe, Flies All the Way Home with Her From Australia

It's always nice when you stumble across something you picked up while traveling and stir up memories from what was hopefully a great trip. Ideally, though, you never end up bringing back an unintentional keepsake that's, well, alive and slithering in your shoe, as one unlucky woman did after a snake found its way into her suitcase and hitched a ride all the way home with her after a vacation in Australia. 

After returning to her home in Scotland from Queensland, Australia after a holiday Down Under, Maria Boxall discovered an interloper had made its way into her luggage when she spotted a snake hiding in one of her shoes while unpacking. At first, she thought it may have been fake and placed there as a practical joke, but soon realized the creature was very real after she prodded it and it moved. Not only had it stashed itself in her shoe, but it even molted its skin in there. At least it didn't escape into the overhead bin, though.

Boxall isn't totally sure how the lil guy ended up taking the 9,000 mile journey with her, though she says she did spot a snake in her room while she was in Australia (!) but that she "thought it had gone," according to the BBC. She had a relative take the shoe outside and called the Scottish Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, who came to retrieve the reptile and identified it as a spotted python, which isn't dangerous. For now, it's in quarantine in Edinburgh, and will likely be given to a zoo. 

Just your weekly reminder that Australia is a beautiful place full of friendly people, stunning sights, and lots of things that will scare the living crap out of (or possibly kill) you. And also, that it's never a bad idea to double-check what exactly's in your bag before you get to the airport. 

h/tBBC

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