I Don't Like Airports

in #life6 years ago

First, An Update And Gratitude

It's been a few years since my wife has traveled to Mexico to visit her family, namely her sisters and aunts. Because her work requires she put in the vacation time request well in advance, we didn't know at the time she would also be having hernia surgery prior to leaving.

So, since August 20 when the procedure was performed, she has been off work. Fortunately, between short term disability and taking another week of vacation time she hadn't planned, we're in good shape financially. And, due to skilled surgeon's hands, a healthy body and some divine providence, she is well on her way to mending.

She had an appointment with the surgeon prior to leaving for Mexico that basically gave her the green light to return to work without restrictions the first of October. In the meantime, she is to continue to take it easy. I'm hoping it will be easier for her to do that in Mexico with her family than it would be here where she might be tempted to do more than she should.

But let's face it. The reality is, she's likely to try to do more than she should regardless of where she is.

Thank you to everyone who has known about this who has expressed their well-wishes. It's interesting to note that as it currently stands, more of you have asked me about her than people I have actually known for longer and met in person who probably should be asking about her. I'm not sure why that is. It is what it is.

That's Just The Background

As the title suggests, this post is meant to be about our experience at the airport so she could even get to Mexico.

tuce627424unsplash.jpg
Image source—Unsplash

Just let me further preface it by saying, since 9/11, I have struggled with the whole thing of enhanced security. My wife, along with one or both of our sons, has made the trip to Mexico many more times than I have, and so the times before 9/11 I used to wait with them at the gate to actually watch their plane taxi to the runway, and if I was really fortunate, watch their plane take off. It was an amazing amount of comfort to be able to do that.

There is nothing comforting about waiting along a barrier or enclosure to see if she or the others are getting through security okay without being subjected to scans, pat downs, palm sprays, or worse.

And just for the record, any time I've flown, I'm apparently a prime candidate for scanning and spraying. So far, I've not had to endure a pat down.

I certainly want to be safe when I fly, I don't like feeling like I'm some kind of terrorist or criminal, and I'm not all that convinced, given the past opportunities since—the underwear bomber in particular—that the measures imposed are even all that effective. Not when they can be circumvented.

My Wife Is Apparently A Security Risk

Normally, my wife makes it through with flying colors. Often, she only has to go through the metal detector. This time around, apparently something she was wearing in her hair (she had it up with some kind of pin or clip) made them stop her. I didn't see it happen, but she said she was patted down on one arm and the opposite leg. Not both arms. Not both legs, or the rest of her. And what that had to do with her hair, once they knew what it was, I don't know.

My wife is all of 4' 8", and at 58, she has been white haired for several years. Without her glasses, she looks like the Mexican grandma from Coco. Not Coco herself, but her daughter. With her glasses, she just looks cute.

I understand that you can never be too careful, and yes, I want everyone to be safe when they travel, and no, I don't want the bad guys to ever get aboard under any circumstances. I also know Mexican grandmas, while feisty and not to be trifled with when it comes to eating their food or behaving, are not known for blowing up commercial airliners or crashing them into skyscrapers.

It didn't help in this case that they had one TSA officer helping the longer line of a few dozen people while another sat waiting for the pre-screened folks to show up.

Security Versus Personal Freedom

Apparently, innocent until proven guilty only goes so far. And I know the U.S. isn't the only country who has the extra security measures. And maybe it is because of the heightened awareness at the airports that there hasn't been another incident like 9/11. Instead, the terrorists have been consigned to mass shootings or running over people in rental trucks. I take no comfort in any of those methods over piloting airplanes into tall buildings. I just hope we don't have to continue to give away our rights to person and property, along with privacy, in the name of safety.

And I also hope that it never comes to a repeal of the second amendment, or the first, or whatever other constitutionally-backed recognition of natural law or God given rights we're supposed to have, and wish were more highly regarded everywhere around the world.

I long for a day when once again I will be able to accompany my wife to the gate, sit with her while we wait for her to board, so I can watch her safely off. In the meantime, I'm not holding my breath that the circumstances required to make such a thing happen again, whatever they may be, will ever come to be. Not the way most of the world is going.

Sort:  

prime candidate for scanning and spraying?

What is spraying? I think I have only flown twice since 911, maybe only once, I can not remember for sure. I hope the wife has a nice vacation down there and does relax a bit, and I hope you don't get to bored with her gone.

Spraying might not be the right word. Swabbing? At any rate, they take some kind of chemical and put it on your palm. I have no idea what it's for (they don't tell you what they're doing) other than to believe it must be to check for explosives or some other substance they don't want you to have on a plane. Any of this might be at least lightened (I still wouldn't like it) if they offered you any information at all, but basically, they just grab your hand and start doing it before you really even know what's going on. And of course, you're not encouraged to ask questions or make a fuss while it's happening to you.

I'd guess on average we're probably somewhere between every year and every other year as far as flying goes. It doesn't seem like a lot to me but, I guess it could seem like that to others who hardly ever fly. At any rate, so many things have changed.

I was tempted to just write "me neither" without actually reading the post. Sorry to hear about the health problems ... or perhaps I rather should say, good to hear it's going well despite the health problems.

Airports are stressful environments even without the security theater. My wife is often complaining a lot on me because I'm "wasting time", choosing alternative travel modes whenever possible. But no, that's not "wasting time". If I actually can work on my laptop while travelling, sleep properly while travelling, eat nice meals while travelling ... and maybe most importantly: even relax while travelling, then that's very valuable for me.

With the train it's fairly simple. They have invented a new evil rule that one has to board the train a whopping 20 seconds before the official departure time, but that's manageable - and since I'm frequently travelling through the central train station I'm pretty good at calculating the time needed. It only takes some few minutes plus safety margins (waiting time) from one arrives to the train station until one is comfortably seated in the train. On most train stations, one can follow the passenger all the way to the train and wait directly outside the window all until the train has departured.

Ferries often have a more evil rule that one has to come 15 or 20 minutes before the departure time, and it often takes quite some time from one arrives to the ferry terminal until one has found the cabin or found a comfortable seat in the bar ... sometimes there are queues there also (I think I've found out how to circumvent the queues: going by bike and without heavy luggage - one can sneak past all the cars to the drive-in-checkin, bike directly into the ferry and climb the stairs rather than queuing up for the lifts), but at the other hand the ferry is often ready for boarding more than an hour before departure. One can come with great security margins without having to waste time. Today it's usually not possible to follow passengers all the way ... when I was a child it was possible to follow passengers all the way to the cabin as long as one would be careful to leave the ferry before departure.

Airports? Often they are far away from the city center, one needs to do research on how much time one will need for getting there, and different airports have different standards on how long in advance one is expected to arrive to the airport. One has to queue up for the check-in automat, queue up for the luggage drop, queue up for the security theater, waste time and nerves going through the security theater, perhaps one has some slack time and wants to "relax" with some meal or a drink but it's difficult to relax properly at the airport. One has to waste time searching/running for the gate, wait at the gate, queue up for boarding the plane, queue up inside the plane to get seated ... and forget about being "comfortably" seated, in the airplane one is uncomfortably seated and that's a fact. If a trip by air takes two hours, then for sure some four-five hours are wasted. It's also a great problem that one cannot follow people to the gate anymore. My son (14) was supposed to go to his grandma in the weekend two weeks ago. He was very stressed with it as he didn't really know how to deal with airports (he got lost on arrival last time he was flying alone, as he thought it was needed to go through passport control on arrival). In fact he managed the check-in-automat, the luggage drop, the security control and finding the gate without problems. Something went horribly wrong at the gate though, he did not board the airplane due to some misunderstandings!

And yes, things were much better before. In Oslo the airport was quite central. I decided to rollerblade there once and seriously underestimated the time needed. I rolled all the way to the gate, no security checks, came there just as the plane was fully boarded, just before they closed the gate, in full speed, stopping abruptly at the gate and asking the personnel there: "did I make it in time?". Success!

Once at a small town in the far north-east of Norway long long time ago ... me and a lady was going home. It was half an hour until the plane was to departure, and the lady started stressing ... "shouldn't we get to the airport soon?". The local responded, "relax, relax! It's still half an hour until the plane leaves - you have good time!". At the airport, 15 minutes the departure ... we had small backpacks, we intended to take them as hand luggage. The guy in the ticket sales office said we had plenty of time and suggested we should send our bags as checked-in luggage. But then came the shock: he didn't accept payment cards, only cash - and I only had enough cash for one ticket. While my luggage was checked in, I took a taxi to the center of the town, withdrew money from the ATM, took the taxi back again, threw the money to the guy in the ticket office and hurried to the gate. It was one minute past departure time, and the plane was waiting only for me. The lady at the gate was going to complain a bit that I was wearing roller blades rather than shoes, but glanced quickly at the watch and decided it would be better that I continued rolling onto the tarmac and into the airplane. :-)

Hey, @tobixen.

re: health problems

I think she's doing quite well now, considering she had three hernias, the one she went in for, which was larger, and subsequently the two smaller hernias the surgeon found while poking around. :)

re: timing flights

I don't think we've ever arrived last minute. Maybe once. We did actually miss a flight even though we had about forty minutes before the plane was to leave because we were barely checking in at the airline counter and they were supposedly already boarding. Fortunately, we were able to fly out the next day without any additional expense, but even that wasn't a guarantee, until we were actually on the plane. And we still missed an entire day at our destination, and lost a day's worth of expenses on room and car rental.

I've never ridden by train. There are some modes of transportation that are great over shorter geographical distances, and as you say, due to their central location and the lack of enhanced security measures. Which is odd in an age of surveillance and security. It's almost like they're begging for something to happen, or they're thinking that terrorists only want the big toppling buildings kind of results, when that's clearly not the case.

At any rate, I'm glad there's still some form of transportation outside of your own car that you can use without it going way beyond the inconveniences.

You, though, need to write a book about all your experiences. Seriously. It's amazing the stories you have to tell. :)

There are some modes of transportation that are great over shorter geographical distances, and as you say, due to their central location and the lack of enhanced security measures. Which is odd in an age of surveillance and security. It's almost like they're begging for something to happen, or they're thinking that terrorists only want the big toppling buildings kind of results, when that's clearly not the case.

Well, I've seen attempts on "securing" train stations and metro stations in Russia and China ... but in practice it doesn't work - and anyway I believe it's more theater to make us feel safe than real security.

I've seen the craziest things in Russia and China ... like an x-ray-scanner for checking luggage where only people who specifically queued up for the scanner got the luggage checked and everyone else could go around.

My son, now 14, he did the most amazing things when he was like 2-3 years old. Like, at a time right after some school terrorism attack in Russia the security on the airports were tightened up quite some notches.
That was the first time ever that I needed to take off ordinary shoes in the security control (I've had to take off boots with too much metal earlier). While the security personnel spent long time on me, my son grew impatient and just ran through the security and the metal detector with jacket and rucksack, metal detector beeping like crazy. Do you think the security personnel cared? Not a bit. He did the same thing in the passport control in China, after we arrived by ferry from Hong Kong. Do you think the passport controllers cared? Not a bit. Did we care? He just ran away from us both times, and we couldn't run after!

I'm in absolute total agreement about it being more theater than security. I might even say it seems to make at least some people feel secure. I'm not at all sure about what government's intent is here, though. I think it's just as much a show of their power and control over us as anything.

If it were meant to make me feel more secure I'd have ways to get through security without being treated like a common thug, which I guess would mean the TSA pre-check you can sign up for online for $85 and then renew every five years. If I flew frequently, it would be worth it. Still doesn't stop them from looking at your stuff even if you don't have to remove certain articles of clothing or show them what liquids you have, or your laptop.

I'm glad your son was actually treated humanely, though it was obviously very disconcerting for you since you couldn't just go get him.

I'm not at all sure about what government's intent is here, though. I think it's just as much a show of their power and control over us as anything.

I think it's quite simple; whenever something bad happens, it looks pretty bad if politicians do nothing to prevent it from happening again, it looks much better if they do something. For the politicians it's much more important to get reelected than to make useful regulations.

I think one of the most ridiculous is regulation about lights at cars here in Europe - for safety reasons, the headlights should always be on when the car is in motion, and on all new cars the headlights should automatically be turned on when starting the engine - this sort of makes sense (or, perhaps not, when one has become used to it, it's easy to assume every car without headlights on is parked). At the other hand, according to another regulation, in order to save energy, all new cars should be produced with taillights that turn themselves off automatically if it's daylight. Considering that the taillights probably eats lots less energy than the headlights, and serves the same purpose in the daytime (and also, considering that tailights can be pretty important in fog and blizzards) ... this doesn't make much sense to me.

Glad you're back, @glenalbrethsen! And glad the wife person feels well enough to travel. She needs a break after that ordeal.

I haven't flown since 10 days after 9/11. That was a harrowing experience since I was still traumatized from the event itself. While we were waitign for departure, security escorted eleven men very obviously of Middle Eastern extraction into the lounge and seated them separately. The guards remained until boarding time and then escorted them to the loading gate. The entire time, the men looked as nervous as I felt and it was hard to believe there was not some danger in their group presence. They were wearing suits but my mind kept seeing terrorists loaded wit long guns, grenades and a 50 cal squad setup.

Now, I know they were just as nervous as I was, this being the first day scheduled flights to Hawaii were back up. By the time the half hour wait was over, I was convinced that we were being led away to the kidnapping and hijacking.

None of that happened, of course, and the special guests were up front in first class and I was back in the cattle car. I waited the entire six hours for the plane to explode.

No experience with the airport screenings, though. I watch the S.O. go through and they always pass her through. Still, I would rather drive or walk than fly. No more for me!

Hey @willymac.

Thank you. She was getting a bit stir crazy here, I think. She's supposed to be under supervision there, but I'm not sure how much it will be compared to me. :) So, hopefully, she doesn't do anything that might cause her an issue with full recovery.

I know exactly how that feels about wondering what was going to happen with a plane. My experience wasn't immediately after 9/11, but it was probably ten or so years ago now. I don't even know what nationality or faith the guy was, but he just had this look about him that convinced me we were in trouble.

Well, it was a late flight, I was tired, the security was particularly annoying and so I was on edge the whole time, and the oddness of the fellow didn't help. His close proximity and my peripheral vision saw him looking around while he was trying to do something with his laptop or other equipment. Anyway, no need to recall it all.

re: pass her through

That's usually what happens to my wife, but not this time. I suppose in some MacGyver episode a hair clip could do major damage to a commercial airliner. My wife is not MacGyver.

Hopefully the stay in Hawaii after the flight was enjoyable. Hate to have the mood of your flight take over the whole trip. :)

The Hawaii stay was like being on a deserted island! I have a photo of the S.O. walking on Waikiki Beach totally alone. She was the only person on the beach along hotel row in Honolulu! That was spooky. We were the only tourists on the giant, landscaped park between the hotel and the beach. We had ten respectfully out-of-sight armed Military Police keeping oversight for terrorists! There was not a moment around the hotels that felt normal.

I was already a basket case after the flight and being met with that level of security did not help at all. Looking back on it, we had the most exclusive stay in a great hotel anyone has probably had since they were built.

People were just not taking pleasure trip after 9/11. I was attending a wedding and had no choice since I had known the young man since he was five. He was then a 31 year old Navy Lt. and was as close to family as I had.

The "vacant" photo is at https://steemit.com/bwphotocontest/@willymac/after

I can see how everything could have seemed very uncertain and uneasy at the time. That kind of exclusivity probably doesn't happen twice in a lifetime, though, not without an absurd amount of money or something going wrong again.

The feeling of being special in that environment was very nice and being outdoors in the beautiful garden was wonderful, but it was tainted by getting glimpses of heavily armed soldiers in battle gear standing throughout the landscaping. That was a vivid reminder that the world had changed. But then, that was memorable in itself. I'll certainly never again have a first class hotel to myself!

I love to fly but due to the TSA I don't do it anymore. Apparently they consider me a security risk as well because I can't fly without getting wanded, patted down, and my bags searched (I've never encountered the sprays though, but that may be newer). If I thought it was actually accomplishing something I might be slightly more inclined to tolerate it but that isn't the case.

I have personally managed to get weapons past security, both metal detectors and pat downs, on multiple occasions. I've never attempted that at an airport but I've had dozens of searches by cops and bar/event security (often off duty cops) miss weapons and other prohibited items. What's more, I've read multiple government studies that have demonstrated numerous glaring security flaws. Those full body x-ray scanners? If you place a pistol or plastic explosives in certain places on your hips they don't detect it. TATP, the explosive used in both the shoe and underwear bombing attempts, was for the longest time undetectable by the TSA's equipment (it may still be, I haven't heard one way or another whether they corrected that).

I consider trading freedom for "security" to be a fool's bargain for you cannot guard against everything and you will never be "secure" enough that they stop adding restrictions. While I hope that the day will come when both your wife and I can fly without undue hassle and restriction, I'm not overly optimistic about that. In the meantime my car will continue to rack up the miles...

Hey, @coloneljethro.

Man, am I glad to hear I'm not alone at all on this. I don't know if I've ever had a deep love for flying. At least not commercially. Being cooped up for any number of hours in an open cabin with a bunch of people I don't know has become less and less of a good time over the years. That being said, I'm sure it's because my mood is less than happy by the time I actually do make it on the plane because I have to be there two hours earlier than I really need to in order to get through security first so they can tell me what I already know. I'm not there to blow up their plane.

You're absolutely dead on about the security measures. I've heard about different folks getting arms through security but you're the first I've spoken with that's confirmed doing it. It's frightening and oddly exciting in a stick it to the man kind of way. I'm just tired of being told we need this safety measure or that when none of it ever guarantees me anything. Instead of feeling more secure, I feel less.

re: spray

Now that I've been asked about it by someone else, it's not really a spray. It's a swab. It's still a chemical of some kind that ends up on your palm. Just one mind you. My guess is they're looking for something that could be used solely or in combination with something else as an explosive, but of course they don't tell you what they're doing to you, and even so, I still wouldn't be happy about it.

I think the biggest issue I have with all of this is, the measures could be sound, but the humans involved fail. Even if the equipment did catch everything, there's still poor judgment, poor training, poor decision-making, bribes, whatever, that get in the way of all of this. Funny thing is, my wife just laughed it off and I don't find it the least bit funny. At all.

I enjoy the sensation of flying, its like a different take on a roller coaster ride for me. I could just as easily do without the other people though.

Over the years I've discovered (mostly the hard way) that the only security you ever have is what you provide for yourself. Police won't stop you from getting assaulted, they just write down a description afterwards. Likewise, it's not the TSA people's lives on the line if they screw up and let weapons or explosives onto a flight. What keeps us safe on flights more than anything is the fact that every single person aboard knows what happened on Sept 11, 2001 and what fate likely awaits them if they fail to act (a la Flight 93) in a similar situation.

I thought you might have been referring to the swabs, they're checking for the residues that handling explosives leave. I've somehow managed to avoid having that done to me.

The human factor will always be the weak point of any security system. The bit about bribes reminded me of a news story I read a few years ago, the FBI busted a gun running operation that was using airport employees (who don't have to go through the same security everyday) to smuggle guns onto and off of flights between Atlanta and NYC. There will always be a weakness to exploit, so why give up your freedoms and put up with hassles for a rather illusory sense of security? It's all quite ridiculous, which I imagine is why your wife found it funny as well as why we don't.

I had a similar experience recently @glenalbrethsen, watching my 87 year old mother take an age to get through security, on her way home to Malta.

it was horrible. It is extremely uncomfortable for her to stand still and for some reason she had to go in the scanner and try to hold her arms over her head. Something that is impossible for her to do nowadays and makes her dizzy.

Then she was scanned and had a partial pat down. All while I had to stand helplessly and watch.

I so wanted to run through and scream "take your hands off her". Fortunately, my mum took it in her stride and, as she didn't mention it afterwards I wasn't going to bring it up and ask what the problem was.

One of the things I must miss from the "old days" is taking the kids up to the cock pit to meet the pilot and look around. I was able to do that a number of times with my daughter my never with my son. 😢

Hey, @gillianpearce.

I couldn't see any of what happened to my wife, or I might have jumped the barricade. I'd like to think I would have tried, anyway. I just saw her disappear (she's short), and then it took a while for her to come to a point on the other side where I could see her again. I called her and she told me what happened. She even laughed. I didn't find it one bit funny.

I'm not sure what these people think they're doing. I'm sure most of them are trying to follow protocols and it's better safe than sorry, but there's a lot of room for abuse of power and in the end it usually ends in humiliation.

I know in the U.S. profiling is considered a bad thing. Lumping everyone together because of a few bad actors is wrong, so I can't be totally in favor of such a thing. But the law of probabilities does exist, and when the vast majority of terrorism is linked to a certain sector of society, and when zero 87-year-old women have been involved in it, it just doesn't sit well. That's going beyond being careful or safe, or even fair. You can't be accused of profiling or discrimination if you're sending the 87-year-old to a pat down along with everyone else. However, 99.9% of us are not going to blow up a plane we're on.

They need to figure out a way to reduce the risk of the 0.1% without humiliating the rest of us.

The security measures are a hassle for a lot of people. And they cost the taxpayers a lot more money than we otherwise spent on security. And they invade our privacy. But they've been sold to us as necessary to protect ourselves from bad people. I think there's something to be said for that, but it sure can be a pain.

I'm sorry you can't go to the gate with your wife anymore. I know what you mean about the difference between the comfort of being able to sit with them until it's time to leave, and trying to watch them go through security along with hundreds of other people. Hopefully she made it there safely and is having a great time. Hopefully you're enjoying your week of glorious return to Steemit (minus yesterday when it was down). Good luck in the League this week!

well, good luck to you. It's good to feel like I can do this again without worrying about what's happening or not happening while I am.

She did make it down safely, and as of last report, was basically talking and laughing up a storm until 8 am and 2 am in the morning. About what, don't ask me.

re: security

Definitely expensive, definitely invasive, not convinced they're necessary, I know they can be circumvented, and personally, I feel less safe and more like I could be the bad guy in the minds of others. If everyone's feeling like that about everyone else, that's more of a problem than it would be if no one was suspecting anyone, or better said, concerned that anyone might be. It doesn't take much for someone to do anything and all of sudden we get people shot and killed because they gestured wrong or zigged when they should have zagged.

I think I'm going to go ahead and pay the $85 bucks for the five year TSA precheck. We don't fly a lot, but we do fly enough, and maybe will increase it as time goes by, that it might actually be worth the total $170. There was no line for the precheck side and while you still have to go through security, you don't have to undress and unpack to do it.

I love being other places. I just don't enjoy getting there anymore, and I really resent the idea that myself, or anyone else, could be considered guilty until proven innocent. I get that there's really no way to know at a glance, but there are measures that can be taken behind the scenes that doesn't herd people through like cattle.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that air travel was once something we actually looked forward to and it was a somewhat exciting part of going on vacation.

Now we get stuck with a security check line so long you can probably see it from space. And there's just this subtext feeling that we're all somehow... criminals... for needing to be searched and scanned. And everybody is a suspect. There's just something "unbalanced" about it, when you put it in the context of the fact that we are the customers, here... and yet we get treated like sheep about to be dipped...

=^..^=

Hey, @curatorcat.

That's exactly it. It is very much unbalanced, I do pretty much feel like a criminal, and it does very much feel like I'm being herded. The thing that keeps me tolerating it at all is the threat of something happening to me or my family if I were to just say, I'm not doing this. I have little choice in the matter. I am not in charge of myself when it comes to this. If anyone wants to see what it's like to live under some kind of oppressive rule, this is it.

I'm not sure what the alternative is. I've never taken a cruise, but I've heard that the same security precautions aren't extended. Of course, they have enough problems with different cruise ships falling apart or causing illnesses somehow, with the added fact that they're very expensive, that it's not appealing at all to me.

So, when there's no other viable alternative that I'm aware of, what can I do? Just don't go? Stage a peaceful protest? What's the Uber or blockchain-like alternative to commercial flight?

And dang it, I didn't even talk about the cost of her luggage to get it Mexico. :)

I'm logging off soon, but happened to notice that my auto-vote missed you for some reason. I was wondering why I have so much VP. Just gave you a vote. I'll read the article and respond probably sometime tomorrow. Glad to see you back!

Good to be back, at least for a time. I'm hoping, anyway, to get back into form this coming week and next while my wife is in Mexico. We'll see how it goes.

I will gladly await your response to my post. Until then. :)

Me neither

Posted using Partiko iOS

hey @offgridlife.

Any particular experience involving airports that makes you dislike them, too?

Yes... all the waiting and no one ever telling us what is going on... every single trip... so we stopped flying anywhere ever. We just do family road trips now. Enough to see in Canada and USA .... screw the rest of the world

Posted using Partiko iOS

Don't blame you at all. My wife likes to fly more than she does to drive, so the longest we do is a 16 hour trip to Southern California that normally gets split up with an overnight stay somewhere up and back. Still cheaper to do that than flying.

Getting to Mexico go is a trickier proposition. Maybe we should just go to Canada instead? :) That's only a six to seven hour drive as opposed to several days to where her sisters live in Mexico.

Yeah... so much to see in Canada and USA ... we love Boston, Cape Cod, New York, etc... the only place we would ever fly back to is Italy... the rest of the World is getting messed up

Posted using Partiko iOS

Just re-watched "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks. That's a long time waiting in the terminal with no one telling you what's going on!

There was one guy that lost his identity documents and was living for several years trapped at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri

Post-edit: I see now that the above-mentioned film is based on this experience.

18 years ... that's a lot of time!

Hmmm, it seems like they should have been able to find documents or make new ones for him in 18 years! That's nuts.

I didn't realize that he was the inspiration for the film. I think that if I had nothing better to do, or no other plans, it could be fun for a little while. But sooner or later, I'd want to get back to reality.

Hmmm, it seems like they should have been able to find documents or make new ones for him in 18 years! That's nuts.

Reading the Wikipedia article, a big part of the problem seems to be that he was insisting on returning to the UK and declining any offers to go somewhere else. It's not unlikely that his documents were intentionally lost as well.

I think that if I had nothing better to do, or no other plans, it could be fun for a little while. But sooner or later, I'd want to get back to reality.

I hate airports, wouldn't want to stay there more than absolutely necessary.

It seems that his case is not completely unique, getting stuck on airports happens from time to time - Wikipedia even has an article "List of people who have lived at airports". I do remember when Snowden got stuck on Sheremetov.

It's clear from the list that some persons voluntarily decides to get "stuck" on airports. Oh well, I guess that if one is homeless, the airport is not the worst shelter one can find ...

Mehran Karimi Nasseri
Mehran Karimi Nasseri (Persian: مهران کریمی ناصری pronounced [mehˈrɒn kʲæriˈmi nɒseˈri]; born 1942), also known as Sir, Alfred Mehran, is an Iranian refugee who lived in the departure lounge of Terminal One in Charles de Gaulle Airport from 26 August 1988 until July 2006, when he was hospitalized for an unspecified ailment. His autobiography has been published as a book, The Terminal Man, in 2004. His story was the inspiration for the 2004 Steven Spielberg film The Terminal.

all the waiting and no one ever telling us what is going on...

The information flow is often quite sub-optimal. I've been waiting for arriving airplanes that have been more than an hour delayed, with the information screen telling nothing about delays even after the expected arrival time. The staff in the on-arrival-duty-free-shop obviously knew, because they were nowhere to be seen until right before arrival.

On another occasion I took a photo of "expected landing 17:10" at 17:20.

Twice I've been delayed and have had luck with outgoing airplanes being delayed - except, I didn't know they were delayed. Once in Brussels, we had many hours between airplanes, so we left our luggage in a storage box in the terminal. Unfortunately, when leaving out, we had the plane in another terminal and we were denied access to the storage boxes. It took us a whopping hour to resolve that problem - and of course they went all the way with checking in the security control - belts off, shoes off, etc ... I was running as hard as I could with my trousers almost on my knees, laptop charger cable trailing me as a tail, belt in the other hand - and luckily the plane was delayed.

Another time, in transit and arriving with a delayed plane, the lady in the check-in said "no way, there is no hope that you can catch your plane, we need to book you on the next plane". And guess what, after ticket purchase, check-in, luggage drop, security control ... what did we see? The plane I should have been at were still standing by the gate, boarding hadn't even started. But no way, I was not allowed to enter that plane ...

When escorting an UM, one can follow the child all the way to the gate, one should wait there until the plane is fully boarded, the UMs are the last ones to board. One is not allowed to leave the airport until the airplane has taken off. I ignored that and left the airport as I was in a great hurry. We could see at the Internet that the plane still hadn't taken off looong time after it was supposed to leave, so I jumped off the train and headed back to the airport. I was asking the airplane company staff at the outside of the security control on what was going on, but they were neither able to give me an answer nor able to check up if the plane had left yet or not. I was waiting for like half an hour until I could learn that the plane actually took off long, long time ago.

Nothing screams threat like a 60 year old, 5 foot nothing Mexican grandma :)

I too remember and long for the days of accompanying someone almost to the plane !

If there weren't real world repercussions, I think it would be hilarious to see my wife go all Bruce Lee on a few security personnel for about a couple minutes, just to justify the pat down. :) Nothing injurious, just "Waaaaaaaa!" and some feints in their direction. :)

hahaha I've got a vision going on that's hilarious!!!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70753.86
ETH 3589.34
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.75