unwelcome home
every time i come back in to the US, i'm reminded of why we're seen as rude. getting to the dubliln airport on friday, i was informed during check-in that i would need to go through US customs and immigration before i got to my gate. i sort of dismissed this directive until the lady behind the counter let me know that a) i would have to pick up my luggage in atlanta and re-check it (groan) and b) that the us customs check i needed to get through expected those on my noontime flight to have already gone through their inspection by 9:15am. what?? i was proud that i was at the airport even by 9:30, considering the hour or so it took to get there from grace's. so i grabbed a coffee and jetted over to the designated customs area where i was treated as if i was entering the US, stamped and all. it was an interesting concept, supposed to alleviate traffic in atlanta (kinda worked, but... not really). it also stuck me in a strange small sub-wing of the airport that had 3 gates and one bathroom, and that's all. at least the bathroom was interesting, since the auto faucets kept turning on in a ghostly fashion... like my own watershow!
the plane ride home was more on the good side, since i had the middle row all to myself and could stretch out and pretend to sleep. unfortunately, i somehow managed to break all three in-seat consoles that were to provide my entertainment (movies, games, music) for the long ride home. i was also next to a family of 3 kids under the age of 3, who were actually quite well-behaved in spite of their disinterest towards sleeping whatsoever. what was annoying was the adults who spent the whole of the 9 hours entertaining the kids by beating on the tray table and clapping their hands and making other repetitive annoying noises. at one point, one of the kids also climbed on to me and started going through my stuff; not sure which adult was supposed to be watching that one.
once i hit atlanta, that's when things started getting... bad. getting off the plane, we were greeted by a range of attitudes, from the unwelcoming and rude to the indifferent. none terribly good. we were forced to pick up our luggage and go through customs, then recheck it and go through security (shoes off, liquids in the bag, etc), all without ever leaving the arrivals terminal. seriously, we had to go through security just to leave, and once again subjected to the shouting nastiness of the TSA. welcome home.
the flight was delayed by about 45 minutes as we waited for catering to bring on to the plane the meals for first class. us chattal could purchase meals that were already on the plane, yum. we were filled to the brim with people who were near riot by the time the plane left. i made a point of putting ear plugs in to try to drown out the screaming kids and bitching adults. once we were airborn, people started cheering, and again when we landed. chill out people.
so, it's nice to be home after taking a good 20 hours or so to get back here. and now i have the 3-day weekend to recover and do laundry. LOTS of laundry.
current mood: wonky