Monday came all too early. I rolled out of bed around 6 am and had a quick breakfast with David at the hotel restaurant. I was in a cab by 7 am and at the airport by 7:30. Then the crap began…
I checked in with my airline checked my bags and made my way through customs with no problem. However, when I hit security the problems began. All passengers flying into the states were funneled into 2 lines. All other passengers were sent to one of many open lines. Once my passport and ticket were analyzed I was told to empty my bag- Not to just place it in the tray on the belt, but to totally empty the bag. ALL people in the line had to do this. Once I passed through the metal detector I was patted down. Every person in the line was given the full pat down. Talk about crazy, all because we were flying into the states.
Once I finished with being fondled by the security agent I repacked my bag and made my way to my assigned gate. Imagine my surprise when I saw that all the gates with flights arriving in the US were roped off and ALL passengers were being checked AGAIN. I had to once again receive the full pat down and a security agent took everything out of my neatly packed bag. HELLO…. the bag had just been emptied five minutes prior to this. None of the passengers were very happy with having to be patted down again and having bags emptied again.
Due to the extra security check my plan boarded 30 minutes late and left the ground almost an hour late. This was not good, since my connection flight in NJ only had an hour and fifteen minute lay over. The flight from London to NJ was pretty good. I watched a few movies and made myself stay awake so that I would be able to sleep at night when I got home.
Once we landed in NJ I only had 15 minutes to go through customs and security and get to my plane. Well customs took forever, they only had 3 lines open for American citizens, and had about ten lines for non-American citizens. Get this the guy in customs did not even speak proper English. Why do we have custom agents in the states who can’t even speak English???
Once through customs I had to go through security again. This time was not as bad as in London, since I did not get the full pat down treatment. But the line was so slow because so many people acted like they had never gone through a security line. Finally done with security I had to go to baggage claim, and recheck my bag. That went pretty quickly, but the agent on duty told me that me and my bag might not make this flight. He informed me the flight had been delayed but he was not sure if it had boarded yet or not but to hurry because from that point it was about a 15 minute walk to the gate. Well I walked fast and made it to the gate. Lucky me, the flight still had not boarded, and they were having to change out the plane. So I an my luggage made it on board. The funny thing is we left about an hour late but arrived 15 minutes prior to our original arrival time. No customs or security in ATL so I was headed home by 6:00 and walking in my door by 7:00.
Madi was so excited to see me. I got so many hugs and kisses from her, she made the rest of the night so nice. All she wanted to do was hug me and kiss me. She is such a special little girl. It was good to be home.