Texas
Everyone knows that I hate air travel. This trip was definitely no exception. A passport from Cairo, a bag packed with camera equipment and a re-enforced laptop, no sales contract and checking off that I was on a business trip with a one way ticket probably all worked together to flag me at the customs' line. The back room hasn't changed since they last renovated, and neither has the service. Sitting in the bullet proof waiting room, I was visualizing the looks on everyones' faces as I walked into the office for the standup meeting.
The officer I talked to was getting flustered as I tried to explain that I was installing a server on the customer site, but it was a machine, costing thousands of dollars, that we gave to them. Since no cost, there was no sales contract. Simple, right? Since he could find no discrepancies in my story and I don't think he wanted to deal with me at 5am on Monday morning, he let me out of the cramped outter room and out into the cattle pen of security.
An adventure, and I wasn't on the plane yet. Security was fun as well. I think I had a trainee, because she did the worst job in the whole world checking my bag. I could have hidden a live badger in the bag, and she wouldn't have found it. The lady at the X-ray turned on the strobing red lights as my bulletproof laptop, digital SLR and lenses passed through, but the red head checking my bag out didn't even look in all the compartments. The Clown Show® was in full force today.
My first flight was relatively painless, the usual half glass filled with ice, cramped quarters, crying kid and seat right over the wing (think: Photographer) ensured that I wouldn't come off the plane glowing about the leg of the voyage.
DFW was retarded. At first, I was impressed with the large glass walls, the colourful floors and walls, and the elegant skylink train linking together the five terminals. That was until they changed my gate, three times, between two of the terminals. Start at D, travel to B, find my gate, find my gate has changed, travel to A, find my gate, find my gate has changed again, travel back to B. I hummed 'send in the clowns' off key for the whole journey.
The DC-9 was no picknick either. There was a young lady with a carry-on dog, that didn't quite get the physics of the storage provided on the plane. Lady, your dog isn't going to fit in there. No big deal, dealing with it, only delayed the flight 35 minutes. If you think the rest was a bowl of roses, you should imagine six feet four inches of man stuffed into a plane layed out by a Japanese midget.
Blessed, is the fact that the business trip has gone really well. Dispite some major hang ups, I was able to persevere and clear off the majority of tasks I have to complete while down here. I may be able to go home a whole day early.
