Okay, so I'm not quite in Europe yet, but I'm in Chicago!
Cannot believe the customs officer... I walked up and got my hand ready to be fingerprinted, as per the HUGE sign giving instructions for this, and the border guy said, "WHAT are you DOING" with utter disgust. I pulled my hand back
"I don't know..... I've never done this before!" He replied, "did I tell you to do that?"
Flustered, I countered, "no, but I was just trying to be fast so that people won't have to wait." Snide and smug, he replied, "if you really wanted to not hold up the line, you'd have had your passport ready," in reference to the fact that it took me about 9 seconds to recover my passport and boarding pass from my bag. I wasn't prepared and I forgot where I put it in my stuffed bag.
I just glared at him. He handed my passport back, and said, "you're not a schoolteacher, are you?"
"No."
"Good. Have a nice day."
I shot him the death look. It's like someone had stuffed one of those metal detector wands that the security guys use up his bung hole.
Yes I was like a lost puppy in the airport, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fact that I had hardly any sleep. Logic and memory and concentration are out the window at the moment! Don't worry mom, I'm still hypervigilant and am conducting myself on the assumption that everyone wants to steal my bag.
Anyways, I was on the plane to Chicago, realizing that the fact that I'll be in Europe--solo--for a whole month has not hit me yet. And I'm currently taking bets on when it will hit me. My money is on when I board the plane for Dublin.
The guy at Caribou Coffee thought it would be a good idea to see the eastern part of Europe. Which is what I said, but I have a good number of folks advising me against it. We'll see.
I took a train from O'Hare to downtown Chicago. I walked around trying to find the Chicago Cultural Center, and ended up in a Caribou Coffee where I talked to 2 very nice coffee barist...os? (They were guys). I got 10% off my coffee for answering the trivia question: What is the name of Hank Hill's dog? AWESOME!
There's some Flamenco and Indian music going on right now. Not at the same time... Byebye til next post!
Never "glare" at a customs officer..... they can make your life miserable.... (just a heads up!)
ReplyDeleteI can commiserate Janice. Border guards can be the bane of a truck drivers existence and they are now using the extra powers that they have due to heightened safety hysteria to become even more the little tin gods that we all know that they are.Console yourself with the knowledge that he is a little man who is picked on by his wife (if he has one) and also has a little member.Hope that he reads this, did you give him your blog?
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