So I left the wonderful hotel at about 1 am. The airport shuttle picked me (and another couple leaving at the same time) at the hotel and off we were to the airport. The driver seemed old, tired and ? maybe drunk. The worst driving of the trip was left for the last few hours in Israel. The guy was a crazy driver, speeding down dark streets, turning corners and turning around in the middle of the street. He picked up many other people. Orthodox Jews students going home for their spring break. They had some big bags, which of course ended up on top of my small bags. So much for trying to make sure nothing breaks at least before I get to the airport.
So anyways, we get to the airport for $11 at about 2 am. Our flight was scheduled for 5:30am, but we told the driver 4:30am to make sure we got there 3 hours early and I still almost missed my flight.
So I head over to my airline line to check in and as soon as I get there a guy takes my passport and asks me why I was in Israel and how long. In the next few seconds another guy takes my passport and asks me the same questions. He then says "come with me" and that's when the nightmare started. He asks me millions of questions about why I was there, with who, why it was three weeks, what did I see, where do I work, where do I live, who I work with, how many people work there, what is an OT, how many OTs work there, how many kids do I have on my caseload, do I have brochures from where I went, do I remember being there, and blah blah blah. Next he took me to a place to x-ray my suitcases and the people there took me aside again. They took everything out of my purse, backpack, and two suitcases to scan and swab them for any unwanted things. After an hour or so of questioning and scanning a girl took me to a back room where I was scanned with a metal detector. The button on my jeans kept beeping so she had to call someone else to check it out. Close to a strip search.
Next I went back to my suitcases where I tried to re-pack them to make sure nothing will break before it reached Maui. A security girl came and took me to ticketing where I found out my flight from Amsterdam was canceled and I needed to fly through Minneapolis and I would get home on Thursday instead of Wednesday. She told me I needed to got to the travel agent to get that changed, so off I went with my security guard. The travel agent could not find me another route to get home, so with my new security guard off I went back to ticketing. After checking in my luggage he walked me to the security check where I got to go through a special door and didn't have to be checked again like everyone else. A few minutes before boarding I got to my gate and I was off to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam I was able to change my flight through LA and get home on Wednesday, since I had to work the next day. I took a little nap in the airport and soon I was on my way to LA. I sat next to a guy from France who was interested in seeing all my pictures from Israel. He was real nice, he actually got headphones and a snack for me, since I was sleeping. After 10 hours of flying I was in LA. Passed passport control and customs and after searching for my gate in a different terminal and going through security I barely made it to my gate. One of the doctors I work with was on the same flight. I got some food and off we were to Maui. The flight was pretty empty, so most people had a row or two seats to themselves. They even gave us some food.
Well that was my first story and there are more to come.
I leave you with a picture from the plane passing over Iceland or close by.
1 comment:
We're glad you made it home.
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