valmont's Journal: arrived home. heh.

well i finally made it home. they still had security concerns so at Charles De Gaulle Airport, all passengers got some extra love right before entering the plane: all carry-ons were, AGAIN, thoroughly screened, and everyone, AGAIN, got thoroughly searched. The process of searching everyone prior to boarding delayed the flight departure by 1 1/2 hour. heh.

but wait, there's more. once we landed in L.A., they warned us that most passengers would be subject to searching upon exiting the plane (which i didn't), and that absolutely all luggages would be screened one by one prior to being released on the luggage belt for passenger pick-up. So we waited 1 1/2 hour (that magic number) before the luggages started rolling on the belt.

thank Gawd customs was uneventful.

as frustrating as it was, i'd rather be safe than sorry. delay my ass as much as u fuckin' want, 'long as it has a chance at foiling some terrorist plot.

grmbl!

[nanotron]

[valmont@paris nanotron] mv -f valmont ~/los_angeles/

alcohol cures all ails...

[tuxette]

all passengers got some extra love right before entering the plane

So you got the latex glove and vaseline treatment? ;-)

I really don't mind extra security checks before the flight (don't understand the point of it upon landing, really). Especially as long as we get lots of free booze once we're in the air. Then I'll quickly forget about the inconvenience of the delay...

Re:alcohol cures all ails...

[valmont]

hehe. well it would appear they were looking for something. Not sure what or why. But coming off the plane, there were LAPD officers looking at passports, i was some of the first off the plane, i didn't see anyone getting searched again, mebbe people behind us did get searched. I also saw a detective politely greeting passengers. But i'm pretty sure they searched luggages one by one which is why we waited 1 1/2 hour 'till they started rolling on the belt. Mebbe they didn't fully trust the security searche

Re:alcohol cures all ails...

[tuxette]

I live in Norway (10 years in 2004) but I am American, not Norwegian. I usually call myself a citizen of the world. It suits me better.

It's good to hear that the officers were polite; it's amazing how far you can get just by being nice. Nothing like coming off a long flight only to be greeted by rudeness.

I remember one time when I flew into Charlotte. I grabbed my luggage and was making my way out when I heard a voice in a language I did not understand. I assumed the person was not talking to me, and co