Tuesday, May 18 (Day 26)
The coach dropped us off at some really random terminal and it took us a while to figure out where check-in was. Once we found it, we prayed that our bags were under 50lbs (23kg). Everyone passed, some with only 20kgs and me, the heaviest (I don’t know how!!!) with 23.3kgs. They didn’t charge me for the extra .3kgs, though. We made it! Everything was checked in and we were on our way to the security line… which was an absolute mob! At first, we waited 25 minutes in a huge line to get to the actual line. Once we reached the actual line part, everyone started crowding around and the new people didn’t go to the first line. There were people everywhere pushing and shoving and complaining. It took us an hour and a half to finally get through the line. Once through, we were x-raying our carry-on’s and, of course, they stop while my bag was in there and start pointing to the screen. AWESOME! So they took two of my bags and pulled them aside, told me to get the rest of my stuff and to meet them over by the counter. They said that they saw three knives in one of my bags… crap! I forgot to pack them in my checked-bag because I had put them in a plastic bag with the rest of the souvenirs I bought. The third one was a little pocket pliers-scissors-screwdriver that I carried on all my other flights with no problems. So the lady gave me two options: 1. Throw them away and continue to the gate for my flight, or 2. Go back to check-in and check them. I really didn’t want to throw them away, especially because they are unique to Switzerland (not even online!). I didn’t know what to do. I stood there for a few minutes talking to my friends, across the room, while the lady is telling me that I need to make up my mind NOW! They told me that a second checked-bag was 55 euros! Crapppppp! That’s a lot! Then this other lady came by and said that I could buy a box to put them in and that would only be 10 euro. So I made up my mind to go back to check-in and check the knives. My friends took all of my belongings so I didn’t have to go back through security when I was done. All I took was my wallet, passport, and the knives.
I couldn’t find the exit signs and I must have asked 15 different people where to go. The best part of that is that I was pretty grumpy, so when I went to ask someone where something was, I would just go up to them and ask. Everyone I did that to made me smile and say hello to them first. I felt bad for being rude to the first few people but I had already had a rough morning and I was not happy that I had to go back to check-in.
I saw this nice looking airport staff lady and asked her where I could go to go back to check-in. She told me and I followed her directions. I finally made it to check-in. BUT, now the line was HUGE! I did NOT want to wait in that line to check 3 tiny knives. I went and found a guard and asked him and he told me to go to a counter and ask this certain guy. So I went to the counter and guess who was there? That lady! I was so happy to see her again—she was really nice, easy to understand, and told me the correct directions.
I told her what was going on and she jumped up to help me! She took me to buy the box and we skipped the line, then took me back to her station to wrap the box and put tags on it. I then asked about the price of checking a second bag. She said she would look up my records and if it was a second bag then it would probably be 55 euro, even though she disagreed with it because my box weighed less than 1kg. She did her part and then went to ask her supervisor if she could override the fee because it was such a small and light package and it was a mistake. He agreed! That was a bit of luck. So then she took me to the passport line and I skipped everyone and then she took me to security and wished me a safe flight. Thank you lady! But now, the security line was just as long as before. I literally only had my wallet and passport on me and, again, did not want to wait in that huge line that I already spent an hour and a half in. I asked another guard. I explained to him what was going on and I think he was trying to funnily give me a hard time. He finally winked and said he would take me to the priority line. YAY! So I got through security in just a few minutes.
Well that all wasn’t so bad looking back now, but dang! Why do things like this always happen to me?? (Granted, I DID forget about the knives which was my fault)
When I got back through security, I met up with the other 4 in the café where they said they would be. After a while of eating, talking, and resting, we headed to our gate.
When we had our tickets checked at the gate, the guard said to me, in a French accent, “What is your final destination?” I said, “Orlando.” He goes, “Detroit! Good! Where are you flying from?” I was a bit confused but said, “Here…” He said, “Good!” I found that conversation very amusing.
At the gate, I wrote some postcards desperately trying to get them sent out in the airport to be postmarked from France. I got 5 done and asked a guard if there was a postbox where I could drop them. He said no. ☹ now what? I guess I’ll just send them IN the US FROM Paris. Another guy looked at me right before I turned around to walk away and goes, “I’ll mail them for you.” Aw, how nice! I thanked him and went back to my seat. I had 5 cards left and frantically started writing as many more as I could. I got 4 more done before they called boarding and I ran to find that guy to add them to my other pile. I found him and he stacked them right on top of the other pile that was right next to him at his desk. What a nice guy.
On the plane, I went to get something out of my souvenir bag and discovered that the bag of chips I got for my mom was huge! The empty spaces inside the bag had completely filled with air. I though the bag was going to explode! I opened the corner of the bag to prevent that from happening. So mom—sorry if your chips are a little stale. I figured it would be better than an exploded bag on the plane ;).
When we got to Detroit, we had to go through customs. I had put down that I brought food back into the US and they asked me what I had and I said, "Wine, some Italian chips and snacks..." The Guard looked at me and put his pen on my birthday and goes, "What's wrong with this picture?" I automatically assumed that I wrote my birthday wrong so I replied, "Oh, did I write my birthday in the wrong boxes? I can fill out another form..." He kept pointing and repeated himself. I was really confused and couldn't figure out what he was talking about. He finally said, "The drinking age in the United States is 21. You said you had a bottle of wine in your suitcase." Argh! I asked him what I could do and he was giving me a hard time to be funny. He then said that he would let it go and pretend he didn't know about it and if I happened to get stopped for a ransom check to tell the guards that it is one of my friends and it was in my bag because of the weight limits. Another streak of good luck!
Then we got to the part where they check our carry-on bags (even though they had already been checked in Paris...) and all 5 of us got stopped for some reason or another. The guards were nice and were making fun of us for bringing back unique souvenirs. One of them goes, "What happened to bringing back keychains?!"
So after alllllllll that, I ran through the airport to meet up with my cousins who so generously met me at the airport for a bite to eat. We had a nice, but quick, visit and then I had to go to catch my next plane.
The plane from Detroit to Orlando was extremely empty and I had a row of 3 seats to myself so I layed across them and used my sleeping bag as a pillow. I think that is the first time I slept on a moving vehicle this entire trip! And that surely made the plane ride seem short! We arrived in Orlando around 10:30.
We were home!!!!!!!!
