Flying

I was a bit worried when I heard about the attempted bombing in Detroit and the new security measures. This wasn't actually a problem for us. On the way to Morocco I bought a small bottle of calvados (because it was cheap and I wasn't sure if I could get it later) with the intention of bringing it back to France. Then I remembered that we weren't planning to check any bags (cheap airline) and a 200mL bottle wouldn't be allowed on board; I decided to try anyway. I needn't have worried, the security leaving Marrakech didn't put any limit on the amount of liquids... but they did segregate men and women into separate queues for the screening!

Things were a bit more serious leaving Paris. The Spanish Inquisition started before we even checked our suitcases. After my cabin bag was x-rayed a guard asked me to open it. I asked him, "Did you see something inside?" but he replied, "No, just checking." They were in a very curious mood that day, he wanted to know what was inside every box and what everything was. He even asked about the TimTams, whether there was liquid inside, "No, they might be a little wet in the middle but it's not liquid." But the thing is, it wasn't just him, everyone was curious about what we'd been up to. Less than 100m further along, we were stopped again, asked more questions about our bags and what we'd done since we checked them, "Well, I had a cup of coffee..." and most passengers had their hand luggage opened and checked manually a second time.

Naturally we hoped to get upgraded to Business again but that didn't happen. As we sat in Economy Plus we reminisced about our time in Business, looked at the high prices of alcohol and calculated that between us we'd had about $50 worth of alcohol last time. The plane was late taking off because there were not enough de-icing machines to go around, so we got in to Washington a couple of hours late. Our trip through Customs was made a bit quicker by a blasé officer who let us take our 15L of cider through without paying duty. Then we saw that the next plane was delayed by two and a half hours so we had plenty of time.

Now Cindy, having flown more United miles than me, had been given some credits for domestic upgrades. Last time she wasn't able to use it because First Class was full but this time she was upgraded to First at check in. I wasn't all that jealous about a one hour flight but she was talking about sharing the seat, having half an hour each in First. Then, as we were waiting at the gate, my name was called over the PA and I received a First class boarding pass too! The seats were no better than Business but the stewardess took drink orders before take off and brought us snack boxes with chips, salami, Oreos and jelly beans. Not as much fun as 8 hours of Business but it was a nice treat.