We left for the airport at 7:30 AM and got to the airport by 8:45 avoiding most of the traffic. First we went through the security: our bags were x-rayed, and we walked through the metal detector. Next we lined up to have our check in bags searched. Monica had warned me that they would pull everything out of the suitcase, and that we would have to put it all back in. These guys were really nice. Not only did they not pull anything out of the suitcase, but they also didn't pull any of my well-taped packages apart. Phew!! I was happy to not need any of the tape I was carrying.
The next stop was the Delta check-in counter. They guy at the counter took our passports. Then he looked at everything, worked on his computer, worked some more at his computer. Next two other people came over to help him. They were speaking Russian, so I had no idea what the problem was. It wasn't encouraging though. I was remembering my brother and sister's canceled trip to Turkey last fall because they were missing a paper in their passports. Finally the printer started working and about 9 luggage tags came out. We both laughed, and he attached the tags to my luggage probably without checking the weight. I'm reasonably sure that my duffel bag was well over the 50 pound limit. He also forgot to give me the tags for my carry-on luggage which was again pushing the limits: a back pack each, a purse for me and a book bag for Kristen, and a gift bag for each of us. Apparently gift bags don't count as carry ons.
After the check-in counter, we navigated the passport control. We hadn't lost the registration papers in our passports, and we still looked like our passport pictures, so the lady stamped our passports, and we walked out into the airport. Turns out the guy had also forgotten to tell us which gate we left from, and there are no monitors giving an overview. I had overheard the person next to me saying something about gate 21, the one furthest away, so we walked to gate 21, checking the others as we went. It was the right gate. Once at the gate we had to wait until they opened the doors. In the interim I had an interesting conversation with the people behind me. They spoke a few words of German, but no English, but I managed to find out that they were going to Richmond to visit their daughter and their 3 month old grandchild. I told them the 5 Russian words I had learned; they told me the approximately 5 English words they knew, and we all laughed.
Next we went though more luggage inspections. Our bags were once again X-rayed, and we walked through the metal detector again and then were frisked. Next we took our bags over to tables where inspectors were waiting to manually check our carry ons. Finally we boarded our plane, and it took off reasonably on time. It was quite a thorough search overall.
The rest of the trip home was unremarkable. All the flights left on time. No one complained about the extra carry ons. My books were all in the check in luggage, so the backpacks weren't horrendously heavy. And, unlike Stephen, we didn't buy any illegal knives, well any knives at all, so no one opened our luggage. We picked it up, carried it about 20 feet at the New York airport through customs inspection (no joke with such a heavy duffel bag) and then went through security again and waited for our plane to Detroit. Monica had told me that this was a small plane and that they would likely take away some of our hand luggage, but the plane was less than half full, so no one complained about the extra stuff we had.
The bottom line is that I'm very happy to report this very boring post to say that not only did everything go well, but the areas where we were supposed to have problems didn't materialize. Most of all, we had a fabulous trip, but it's really nice to be home again.
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