Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Escape from Atlanta (Homeland Insecurity)
On our way out of Calgary we had been added to the Big George Bush Database by having our fingerprints taken and digital snapshots recorded. I felt safer already... When we decided to leave Atlanta behind us, we turned up at the airport 8 hours early and wangled our way on to an earlier flight at no extra cost. Unfortunately, changing any of your flight details on the day of departure is now regarded as Potential Terrorist Activity, and so we were compelled to undergo automatic Secondary Screening by the Department of Homeland (In)Security. Those terrorists, always changing their flight plans at the last minute... Secondary screening isn't actually as bad as it sounds, no body cavity searches required, just lining up in a long line with rather unfriendly security men and having to remove your belt and shoes, have your bags X-rayed again and searched and then undergo a light patting down. Not fun, but we were glad to be through with it. We headed off into the terminal and decided we would walk to our gate (being good Ulster walkers) rather than take the computer-controlled airport train. So we walked for 5 minutes, keeping the Secondary Screening area behind us and then came up a set of escalators into... Arrivals. Ooops.
It seems that in Atlanta airport it's possible to walk right out of the security screened area, keep going forwards and end up back in the public part of the airport without ever seeing a sign telling you where you are going. And so we had to go back through the Departures gate and were (predictably) selected for Secondary Screening again. We're not sure if going through screening twice could be construed as a Cunning Plan Fit for Dastardly Terrorists, but the security staff we fairly friendly and smiled as they searched us all over again. Of course, we couldn't be let through even though we'd been screened not 15 minutes before, as that would be a Potential Terrorist Loophole, but we escaped with our cavities intact and resolved not to make the same mistake again.
When we reached our departure gate, it was full of young soldiers in desert combat gear getting ready to fly off either to Iraq or Afghanistan, via Frankfurt AFB (Air Force Base). There were so many of them and they all looked so young in their nice clean sand-coloured uniforms and boots. It really reminded us that America is a country at war and soldiers like these are dying every day. We would have taken some photos but it wouldn't have been right (and we might have been arrested). America's changed from the place it used to be.
And so, at length, we completed our escape from post-apocalyptic Atlanta... Next stop, Las Vegas!
J
P.S. Granny Brown is still sticking out, and Mel is now officially overdue... Watch this space!
It seems that in Atlanta airport it's possible to walk right out of the security screened area, keep going forwards and end up back in the public part of the airport without ever seeing a sign telling you where you are going. And so we had to go back through the Departures gate and were (predictably) selected for Secondary Screening again. We're not sure if going through screening twice could be construed as a Cunning Plan Fit for Dastardly Terrorists, but the security staff we fairly friendly and smiled as they searched us all over again. Of course, we couldn't be let through even though we'd been screened not 15 minutes before, as that would be a Potential Terrorist Loophole, but we escaped with our cavities intact and resolved not to make the same mistake again.
When we reached our departure gate, it was full of young soldiers in desert combat gear getting ready to fly off either to Iraq or Afghanistan, via Frankfurt AFB (Air Force Base). There were so many of them and they all looked so young in their nice clean sand-coloured uniforms and boots. It really reminded us that America is a country at war and soldiers like these are dying every day. We would have taken some photos but it wouldn't have been right (and we might have been arrested). America's changed from the place it used to be.
And so, at length, we completed our escape from post-apocalyptic Atlanta... Next stop, Las Vegas!
J
P.S. Granny Brown is still sticking out, and Mel is now officially overdue... Watch this space!
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