16th Dec 2009
Here I am, writing my blog on another flight from Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale: a short trip this time to a sunny place.
I'm not on holiday though: Ft. Lauderdale is where the Company I work for is and I'm going there for a few days which include an office Christmas party. The party will be a lovely barbecue outside in the sunshine: a first for me.
I'm directed to Midway airport: better than O'Hare- I think- less crowded. Obviously I am wrong...as soon as I get there and get off the taxi there is a long line outside the airport...yes outside, with 7F, which is -12C more or less. So I decide that I'm not even going to investigate why these poor people are outside and I assume my check-in is going to be inside!
Yes it is inside- and if it wasn't I was prepared to go back home-.
The line is “only” 10 rows long...even if I did my check in on line I still need to be in queue to check in the luggage: bummer , next time I'll bring less face creams, shampoo, conditioner and so on (good luck with that, I'm a girl after all!).
After 30 minutes I'm done: much less than what I was used to at Heatrow airport after all.
I remember now that for the Security there are 3 lanes: “first time traveller”, “casual traveller,” “expert traveller”. I'm going to the “expert traveller” of course.
I quickly arrive to the ID check desk and a scary looking lady who doesn't even reply to my -Hi- looks at my ID, then at me, then at my ID and then at me again! Such an attitude does make you feel like you have have done something wrong, right?...even if you are totally innocent and just trying to fly somewhere for work, sometimes they make you feel as if you killed someone. Maybe I was just looking more beautiful in person than in my picture and I do have red hair now...this might make me look totally different I suppose!
Once she is done, I keep walking and try to see if I can find any Japanese business man (like in the movie “Up in the air”), considering they travel light, they are very organized and are usually (or never) checked through security. I can't see one, but there is an American business man going pretty fast, switching from the “expert traveller” lane to the “casual traveller” lane and again back to “expert traveller” lane (whichever goes faster) so I'm thinking:- this guy knows what he is doing, let's follow him-.
He does walk fast- I am right- and I'm going fast too: laptop out on a separate tray, shoes off very quickly, coat and scarf well folded into another tray ( I see a girl taking off even her sweater ,but I think that's too much...) and then I keep walking through the security door until I hear: -Beeeeeeeeeeppppppppppppppppp!!!!-
So, I show the security lady Officer in front of me my jewelry -surely that's what's beeping, I think- but she looks at my sweater...- oh gosh, there is a lovely metal ring that wraps my sweater and it's part of it...but I couldn't imagine that it was going to ring as if I had a gun-.
And that is how I blocked the lane for about 10 loooong minutes, until another security woman who took all the possible time she could to come, finally arrives with an object that detects metals. -How embarrassing, I think-...but I'm consoled by the fact that another business man is going trough the same thing.
The woman starts searching me with that object and she tells me that if it beeps where my bra is she'll have to search me better ( oh my God! It sounds like a lesbian experience, I think).
Luckily it beeps only by my stupid ring on the sweater ( I assure the security lady I'll never wear it again) and behind my bra...-oh no! I think...- and she says: -don't worry this is the little hook that connects the bra, you can go now).
While I'm leaving I hear the security man who, after touching the business man on his private parts, tells him:- I'm sorry, but I have to touch you there too...- Well, he was touched by that object not by the hand of the security officer so he didn't have a gay experience but...I guess almost!.
That's all behind me now and I have boarded my airplane and I'm comfortably sitting down on a Southwest Airline, which I have to say it's much better and more comfortable than that little, short AA airplane (that turned out to be an American Eagle one, which I absolutely didn't request) that I took 2 months ago to go to DC. I hit my head twice on that airplane when I was trying to sit down and again when I stood up and I'm only 1,70 m (a little less actually, but nobody knows and what counts is what appears in my ID!).
There is so much to tell about traveling experiences and I would love to hear other people experiences too: I'm sure there are some amazing stories out there.
From me that's it for now...looking forward to land and recover from the freezing, scary cold we have now in Chicago!
