On Friday, November 10, I worked a half-day, ran some errands, finished packing, had lunch with April and her parents, and then went to the airport to fly to Spain to see Becky.
Checking in was fine, but then we had to head to security. I understand that security is for our own safety, but seriously, there's no reason for the workers to be dickheads. First of all, the line was pretty long. About 10 people from the front of the line, TSA employees were checking passports and boarding passes, and they were pretty anal about keeping the passport open to the front page--because the front page is so hard to find.
There was a worker standing by a table saying, "If you have any liquids come see me." I had just a couple things in a ziplock bag--epi-pen, asthma inhaler, and a contact case with a tiny amount of solution. As I was walking over to show her my ziplock bag, a male worker said, "Just go through normal security," so I headed that way. But the woman said in a bitchy tone, "If you have any liquids, come to me." Well, not wanting to get in trouble for trying to sneak liquids on the plane, I started to go back toward her. The guy once again stopped me and told me to just go through. Apparently, she meant, "If you have liquids not in a clear plastic bag, come see me," but I guess yelling at people is just easier than being clear.
After sliding the bag through the x-ray machine, the TSA employee asked to go through by bag. Obviously, I didn't really have choice, but I wasn't upset about it or anything. I asked what he was looking for, so that maybe I could explain where it was, or what it really was, but he just ignored me. After he was pulling stuff out for a minute or so, she ignored her too. Now, if he's not allowed to tell me what he's looking for (which I'm pretty sure isn't the case because the TSA guard in Indianapolis told me he was looking for a lighter), he could just say that. There really is no reason just to ignore some one. Especially since I wasn't be rude in any way (well, until after he was an ass).
There weren't any more problems until Paris (we flew Air France, which I didn't really want to, but that's another part of the story, so we had a layover). There, we had to go through security again. Once again, I had my ziplock bag out to show the security guards. Well, these guards actually took the stuff out of the bag to look at it. They had a problem with the epi-pen. I tried to explain that I need it in case I go into anaphylactic shock, but they didn't speak English, and well, I know no French. Now, I'm not saying that everyone should speak English, but at an airport, you'd think they would. If I was in Italy or probably even in Spain, I'd be able to explain how it was necessary. I would have called Beck to explain, but Verizon doesn't have International service. After about 10 minutes of trying to explain what it was and them asking a couple people, I think they asked for a prescription, luckily, I had found copies from when I went to Italy.
On the plane, my faith of Air France increased somewhat. Besides having the map of we were, there was a camera to see what the pilot could see (unfortunately, it was night, so we couldn't see much). Also, the remotes could be used as game controllers. The food was pretty good. The only complaint I had was that The Break-Up wasn't playing on flights from Paris. Another plus, which I really didn't think would happen: we got all three pieces of our luggage (I know a few people who had luggage lost by Air France).
After claiming our suitcases, we walked right out the doors and met Becky. Anybody notice anything odd about this on an international flight? There was not a passport control check. Yup, the only people in Spain to ever ask for my passport was the hotel. Philly, does check passports on the way out, but they sure as hell look at your identification before letting you in the country. Spain, or at least Barcelona, doesn't really care that much about security.
Well, like I said, we saw Beck right away, which was both a relief and exciting. We wouldn't have to find our way to the hotel ourselves and we got to see Beck for the first time since Labor Day.
