AIRPORT ENCOUNTERS

                                       Sometimes Travel can be Frustrating.

In 1971 or thereabouts. my husband’s ship was going to Hong Kong for R & R and I thought what a great opportunity for me to meet the ship there and do a little sightseeing. On the way the plane landed in Taipei, Taiwan to refuel. We all off loaded the plane into a holding room. We were there for the longest time when they finally told us we could not reboard until the lost flight manifest was found. We couldn’t leave that room or walk around the airport. It a little scary to think that we could be there a very long time, and that maybe I’d never make it to Hong Kong. But about an hour later we did reboard, and we were on our way. We never did know if they actually found the manifest or not, or if it actually really was missing, or if there was some other reason for the delay. Although late arriving in Hong Kong, my husband was at the airport waiting for me.

London’s Heathrow airport is not an easy one to get through. I’ve been through there several times and each time have had some kind of an encounter. After my first trip to Europe, we left for home via Heathrow. After my carryon had been scanned I was asked to step aside. I was puzzled as the bag contained mostly dirty laundry, but I did as asked. The tall, handsome middle-aged Brit said, “I need you to open your bag for me. Embarrassed by the contents of two-week old smelly laundry I inquired, “All right, but why?”

A dark spot showed up on xray and I just need to check it out.” So, there I stood, slowly taking out my dirty laundry putting it on the counter. He was so apologetic and kept saying he was sorry. Eventually I pulled out the two glass bowls I had bought in Amsterdam. I think the agent was delighted that my task was about over, his eyes lit up as he held the bowl saying, “This was the problem. Lead crystal shows up as a dark blob, and it could be a bomb. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.” I shoved everything back in the bag and was on my way to the departure gate.

Another time my son and I were going through Heathrow on our way to Nairobi, Kenya. My photographer son had about 100 rolls of film in his carry-on bag. We were asked to step aside while the fellow opened every single film canister, and tipped the film out before recapping the canister! The only film that escaped was a sealed blister pack of about 24 rolls. I’m sure they were looking for drugs, and knowing that there wasn’t any, I was annoyed at the delay. But there is nothing one can do, as they hold the power. Coming home we were again routed through Heathrow. I had a walking stick that they insisted I scan, which since it wasn’t hollow I thought was pretty unnecessary.

In addition, the grommets on my son's shoes set off the buzzer, and a foil gum wrapper in my pockets also set it off, so we both had to step aside after emptying our pockets to be wanded.

Transfer time was limited, and it was a long hike from the scanner so we hurriedly gathered our things, and took off down the concourse. We hadn’t gone 150 yards when I suddenly stopped saying, “I left our airline tickets back at the scanner.” My son stayed with the luggage, as I hurried back to the scanner where they insisted I had not left any tickets, Well, I knew I had, and it was pretty easy to surmise that who ever followed me through the scanner had inadvertently picked up my tickets along with his pocket contents..

One trip coming home from Europe my trusty 22-inch roll on was really heavy when I finished packing it, and I even questioned if it would be too heavy to get in the overhead. However I had no problem getting from Budapest to Frankfort where I ran into nothing but nasty girls manning   the gate.

      Unfortunately I got in the shortest of two lines, but it turned out to be a group 


returning home. I was just about to move into the seating area when one of the


 attendants informed me my suitcase was too big to carry on. I stated it had 


done just fine on my previous flight. There was no further discussion as she

 informed me I could check it or I was not boarding the plane.

 

     I was just about to load the suitcase on the conveyor belt when I spied 


some broken down boxes near by. I was thoroughly annoyed as I had many

 gifts and new purchases in my bag that I wanted to arrive home with me. 

I grabbed a box, looked around for a couple empty chairs together and set 

about repacking my suitcase. I managed to get everything I wanted into the 


box leaving my suitcase   full of three weeks of dirty laundry which I put on 


the conveyor belt.

 

     In Houston after retrieving my suitcase and going through customs I again 


repacked my carry on taking the extra time to get everything back in the 


roll-on,then my suitcase and I strolled on to my departure gate, happy to be


 back in the US

FIGHTING FOR A FLIGHT

                                            Sometimes It's Easy, Sometimes It's Not

            After one travels enough you know what flights you want and I for one am not willing to tromp all over kingdom come with multiple plane changes to get to my destination. When we went to the Balkans we were to start out in Vienna. The Vienna stay would be short and I had several things I wanted to accomplish.

Months before the trip I learned that most likely I’d be routed through Frankfort, Germany and not arrive in Vienna until 2:30 or later in the afternoon. After traveling all night that was not satisfactory! Returning home from Zagreb we were stuck with Lufthansa Airlines or one of their partners so I got on the web to see what US city had a direct United flight to Vienna. It was not a problem for me to get to any US gateway city.

            When I found a direct flight from Dulles, Washington, DC I called the tour company requesting that flight. We had quite a confrontation on the phone with my not being allowed to talk to the travel department and being informed that they did not take requests plus a lot of rhetoric about restrictions, contracts etc. I was not about to take no for an answer and informed them I would be a pest as, since it was my fourth visit to Vienna, I knew what I wanted to see in Vienna, where I wanted to go and what I wanted to buy and I did not want to waste the day flying especially after flying all night. About two and a half weeks later  I got my airline schedule in the mail which did put me on my requested flights.

            Our guide met the flight and we were actually in our hotel at 9:30 AM. Of course our rooms were not ready, so I left my luggage with the concierge, got directions to Stephenplatz and took off by myself as everyone else wanted to rest. I had until late afternoon before my travel buddy arrived from L A. I accomplished my goals and was back at the hotel about ten minutes before she arrived.

Coming home there was little chance of avoiding Frankfort, Germany so I just had to cope with that miserable airport and its disagreeable people. But coming home I didn’t care, and if the dirty laundry got lost---oh well. As it turned out we sailed through the Frankfort airport and because the security area we chose was very quiet we even chatted with a couple of friendly young security fellows. It was the easiest pass-through at Frankfort I had ever had.