security woes

Seriously! With this new security, my bags have been pilfered through completely. The US security procedures are out of control. It does not matter how carefully I have packed my bags, someones hands are all over my stuff. Even our checked bags were looked through; which held up our London to Chicago flight and pushed our departure time into the next wave of snowstorms. I sat on the plane three hours before we pushed off from the gate and took off. Thankfully, our in-flight entertainment was turned on and I had an entire movie watched by the time we took to the air.

I am actually embarrassed that one country can require such time-consuming, invasive security checks. After flying all the way around the world, it is awful trying to get back to the place I should want to come home to. Do I feel safer; not really. I just feel accosted by the friskers.

In more efficient news, I was anticipating a long explanation at Immigration regarding all the 15, or so, countries I listed as visited on this trip (I nearly ran out of room in super-small print on the customs form). However, the friendly man just asked a couple generic questions about how long I had been gone and that was it. What a relief!

On the other end of my long flight were a great group of girlfriends in Chicago. My friend, Shari, offered to host a gathering for me. Despite running about an hour late, I was grateful for her hospitality and the friends who were there. It was a great way to be welcomed back to the United States and catch up a bit in my travel-frazzled mind with friends. And, it forced me to stay up a bit later than I would have and avoid the worst of jet lag.