Carol Ann and I will be heading out to California Thursday morning. We will be traveling on an airplane rather than in the motorhome. This will be a quick trip out and back-- only four nights. The reason for the trip is to meet our son's in-laws-to-be (should help us recognize them at the wedding in February). Rob, our son, and Kasey, his fiance, will meet us at LAX and we will spend two nights with them in Marina Del Rey and then two nights with Kasey's parents in Newport Beach. Rob has just about every minute of our visit planned out, he hates for us to have free time for naps and such. Such a waste of time. Not really. He actually does a very good job of keeping us entertained. One afternoon he will take us out in his Hunter 45CC sailboat, which should be a lot of fun -- if it's not too much like work. Rob also plans to take us to an indoor Go Kart track where we will all drive electric Go Karts on a concrete track. Sounds like fun. Then, on Saturday afternoon in Newport Beach he has scheduled a gondola cruise of the harbor. He said all we have to do is sit in the boat and drink for a couple of hours while some guy with an accent and funny hat drives the boat. Hopefully, we will be celebrating Georgia's victory over Missouri. The game will be on TV at 9AM Saturday. I've never watched a football game so early in the morning. It just doesn't seem right.
One thing that concerns me about this trip is the flight. I haven't been on an airplane in a long time and am a bit anxious about getting through the TSA security check(s). Things like that always make me nervous, even though I have nothing to hide. I'm afraid that the Houston Intercontinental airport TSA agents will notice my nervousness and think I'm hiding something. I don't want to be singled out for a strip search behind a little curtain.
I've been singled out before for "additional screening." At Shreveport's airport, after removing shoes, belt, jacket, and emptying my pockets I still set off the metal detector. I was taken behind a "privacy screen" and told to unbutton and unzip my jeans, whereupon they checked every single rivet in my jeans to make sure they really were rivets.
At the ticket counter in London's Heathrow airport I gave the wrong answer to the question, "Has your luggage been with you the entire time since it was packed (or similar)?" and was immediately whisked away by two uniformed gentlemen with my luggage to a small room where I was searched and my luggage unpacked, inspected, and x-rayed. I suppose they have to find something after going to that much trouble so they were quite excited when they found the nail clippers that were "hidden" in my luggage. My nail clippers were confiscated and I was properly chastised about my attempt to carry a deadly weapon aboard the flight before allowing me to continue to the boarding gate.
I was also pulled out of a line of autos at the Mexico/US border (by "our" guys!) because I was in a rental car. The car was searched and x-rayed but there was nothing to find so I was allowed to re-enter the US.
I do hope that I am not perspiring when I get to the security checkpoint tomorrow. I would really rather not be isolated for suspected Ebola!
One thing that concerns me about this trip is the flight. I haven't been on an airplane in a long time and am a bit anxious about getting through the TSA security check(s). Things like that always make me nervous, even though I have nothing to hide. I'm afraid that the Houston Intercontinental airport TSA agents will notice my nervousness and think I'm hiding something. I don't want to be singled out for a strip search behind a little curtain.
I've been singled out before for "additional screening." At Shreveport's airport, after removing shoes, belt, jacket, and emptying my pockets I still set off the metal detector. I was taken behind a "privacy screen" and told to unbutton and unzip my jeans, whereupon they checked every single rivet in my jeans to make sure they really were rivets.
At the ticket counter in London's Heathrow airport I gave the wrong answer to the question, "Has your luggage been with you the entire time since it was packed (or similar)?" and was immediately whisked away by two uniformed gentlemen with my luggage to a small room where I was searched and my luggage unpacked, inspected, and x-rayed. I suppose they have to find something after going to that much trouble so they were quite excited when they found the nail clippers that were "hidden" in my luggage. My nail clippers were confiscated and I was properly chastised about my attempt to carry a deadly weapon aboard the flight before allowing me to continue to the boarding gate.
I was also pulled out of a line of autos at the Mexico/US border (by "our" guys!) because I was in a rental car. The car was searched and x-rayed but there was nothing to find so I was allowed to re-enter the US.
I do hope that I am not perspiring when I get to the security checkpoint tomorrow. I would really rather not be isolated for suspected Ebola!
3 comments :
With this latest Ebola scare in Texas you just may end up with a thermometer stuck into some place not intended for thermometers. Just keep smiling!
Yikes!
It was easier than I expected. We were eligible for "Pre TSA Screening" and only had to place keys and cell phones in the tray for the x-ray machine. Didn't have to remove shoes or belt. Carol Ann had to go through the full-body scan because her two prosthetic hips set off the metal detector. I suppose the "Pre" part of the screening was checking us out on the computer.
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