This is Travel

In case you are not the type of person who travels often, I will share my return flights adventures with you.

If you read the previous post, you know I flew from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires, and was about to fly from Buenos Aires to Dallas. Lucky me, I had the extra security designation on my boarding pass. In Argentina, they do a second security screening at the gate right before you board- searching every piece of luggage everyone is bringing on board by hand- kind of like if you bring a backpack to an amusement park or a sports stadium. The extra security screening means I had to remove my shoes for inspection and get the explosive residue testing on my hands, shoes, and all of my pockets. On the plus side, the Argentine security officer loved my necklace of all of the students and staff! We had quite a conversation about that, as the explosive detection computer was having some problems (the last before me got the explosives found alarm to go off, and mine just wasn’t reading at all).

Once onboard, it was a battle for overhead bin space for my carryon. Then, it was settling in for a 10 1/2 hour flight in a roughly 4 square foot space.

We got dinner on the flight- a choice of beef or pasta. Then it was time to check out the movies and try to fall asleep. Since there are only so many ways you can contort your body in that tiny space, so sleep is difficult. I had the window, which is what I prefer, as then I can lean against it with my travel pillow for an additional shape to fit my body into. About an hour before we were to land, we were served a ‘snack,’ which is actually a cold breakfast sandwich and a granola bar. Much bigger than your standard bag of pretzels, so that is appreciated.

Here’s where things get complicated. When entering into the US from a foreign country, you must go through customs. We were supposedly in a line that would take 14 minutes to clear customs, but I think the person who put that time in was dyslexic. It took me 41 minutes to get through customs. It has changed from when I was younger (although I’m sure it still depends on the airport). You walk up to a screen and it takes your picture. If it recognizes you, you get the green light and go on to collect your bags from baggage claim (even if you aren’t staying in this city). I don’t know what happens if the system doesn’t recognize you, but there is a security agent waiting at the lane you are in to assist with that.

After you collect your bags, you now go through the customs declaration process. If you brought in plants, fruit, vegetables, meat, really expensive goods, etc. then you need to declare these with the agent. If not, you go through ‘nothing to declare.’

Now you get to hand back your checked bags so that they can make it on your next flight. Now it’s on to security again, repeating the airport security process you did for every plane trip you’ve ever taken from the US. I happen to be TSA pre-check, and at Dallas-Fort Worth, the pre-check line took 20 minutes, and was wrapped around the corner from the security, into the ticketing area for American Airlines.

From the moment my plane touched down until the moment I made it to my gate for my flight to Milwaukee was an hour and sixteen minutes, in case you ever need to plan. And that was with the help of the tram I took from terminal D to terminal A in this airport.

And now I am sitting on my final plane with a flat tire. But my bags are on board, I’m on the plane, too, and I know I’ll get home eventually. I just wanted to share the nitty gritty of travel, as so often it looks glamorous. There’s always something that adds to the stress, but that’s what makes travel so good for people- it’s a reminder to be resilient and flexible. There are things that aren’t always in your control, but you just have to roll with it and do the best you can. People who tend to get very stressed in these situations tend to think that they are the only ones experiencing the trouble. I have experienced countless times over when a plane comes in late and someone is practically leaping over everyone to get out because they have a plane to catch. 9 times out of 10 the people in front of the impatient person are also trying to make connections, too. A little kindness and patience go a long way in traveling.