W-e-l-l-l....I figure I might a well tell about some of it.
I'll begin at the security station. I am one of those few people who haven't traveled in a L-O-N-G time. So all the new security features were a pain, understandable, but a pain. In preparation for a long, slow line, I showed up the recommended hour plus early. Since the flight was supposed to be wheels-up at 11:30, I showed up at 10.
I met my co-worker at the ticket counter and after we got our e-tickets settled, we headed up for security. It was actually no different for me (except for removal of my shoes, opening up my suitcase for inspection, and showing ID) than any of the last times I flew. Seems I always touched off the sensors so I ended up removing everything short of my dignity anyway.
Popping through the check point was a breeze. But the line was really backing up behind us. So after zipping through, I tried to hurry things up in the process. Normally, in the past, I traveled with a pile of garbage I had to reload into my pockets after passing. This time, with the new rules, I had little to reload. I did however, have a pair of shoes and a belt to put back on. Now this was a bit awkward. Therefore, to help clear out the congestion, I decided to just grab my stuff, move out of the way, and finish things off to the side.
That would have worked nicely but for a couple issues. First, my wrist still wasn't up to hauling a lot. That meant that hand held all of the small junk...shoes, belt, cell phone, ID, and a small amount of change. And second, in my haste to move out of the way, I forgot they make you unzip (open) your luggage. (see where this is going don't you?)
So with my good hand, I grabbed the handle on my luggage and did the 'ol lift-and-turn...and sent a cascade of clothing across the concourse. Looked like a bad laundry soap commercial.
My co-worker didn't even crack a smile. Just looked at me real matter-of-fact and said, "Yep. Seen that a lot. Done it myself." And went back to tying his shoes.
I just scraped everything up, stuffed it in, and dragged the bag to the side to repack after I got MY shoes on. Before we moved on, another person in line sent another cascade of clothes all over the place as well.
In my mind, I had this comedic flash of half dozen people having tossed clothing all over the place and then trying to sort it out...
Person 1: "Blue sock?"
Person 2: "Mine. White boxers?"
Person 3: "Mine...uh, if they're Jockey..."
P2: "Yep. Catch."
P3: "Thanks. Uh...Peach thong?"
P4 (bright red female): "Uh...mine. Black oxford?"
P5: "Yo. 'Salmon...the other pink meat' tank top?"
(All sorting stops for a moment, even at the security point.)
P4 (brighter red, almost whispering): "Also mine. Black silk speedo briefs?"
No one responds. Even the security officer goes deaf. Repacking continues like nothing happened.
Monty Python could have done this justice with their perchant for sight gag.
Anyway, the two of us head to our gate. We figured we would about 30 minutes to spare, and we hit it right on the money. After setting our stuff down on a seat, we looked at the arrival/departure screen..."Flight Delayed/50 minutes". Figures, from 11:30 to 12:25. Still gave us time to make our connection.
Were we wrong. I'll tell you more tomorrow.
Trips happen.
I have never had to unzip my luggage. They want to look in it, they pull it to the side and unzip it themselves - I've never had them to fail to zip it back up (and I get my stuff searched at least once every time I go somewhere).
Posted by: Bogie | January 27, 2008 at 05:37 AM