Libera Dreams

Well, the Autumn UK tour is finished so I decided to post an OFF-topic just for chatting purposes

I just remembered as FDL described the case when he get searched by police when he was on USA tour this summer

As it happens I experienced smth like that on my way to and back from London concert. When I was passing security control in Riga airport, I was asked to remove my shoes (I probably look very suspicious ), but this was not enough . One of the security guards was so interested in my portable PC adapter that it was taken out of my backpack and inspected veeery closely and passed back to me again. /phew/ Otherwise it would be quite stupid to drag the notebook to the hotel and not to use it

Unfortunately it distracted me to the extent that I forgot my wallet on the desk between the boxes...
I realised it one minute later and rushed back and luckily it was still there (lucky me ). After this I found out that 3 different flights (including mine) were planned from a small terminal (there are a few), of course it was crowded already so I went to cafe to relax after the terrifying inspection

When I returned to the terminal the queue was really long- even outside the terminal ... But people in the very end of it confirmed they are waiting for the flight to London so I just took my place and started chatting there carelessly. I found out that the line was mixed and people were waiting also for flights to Liverpool. At one point I heard announcement to board for the flight to London, but the line was moving slowly forward to the gate, so everything was fine.

A few minutes later they announced the last call. A bit confusing, but the end of the line didn't care too much about it as the queue was still moving forward slowly. Then came repeated very last call.
And the line was too slow at that moment. So I just went to the front to ask the staff what's going on and found out the line actually wasn't so mixed and some 4 people were standing in the end of line to Liverpool thinking they are on the supposed line. Nice. Fortunately they didn't close the gate. So I can write this crap

You think this is it? Nope... The next day (on my way back) security guards of the other airport were peering the monitors a bit longer than I would expect. Luckily there was no need to make a show of my socks, but in the next corridor I was asked to remove my backpack so they could make a quick specific test for ... explosives
As you might imagine they found nothing.

Is this the end- noooooo !!!
When I boarded the plane I sat next to a group of people that looked like my age and get lost in Ryanair's flight journal.
Later I got introduced to a bloke next to me (also in his twenties) and he was really inspired to be on the first flight of his life
He was really not concentrating on normal behaviour while flying so ... he got drunk and started talking nonsense like asking if he could go for a walk on a plane or could he smoke here

I didn't care too much about this until he got quite bored to the extent that he got really angry for the too long flight. At that time we were flying for an one hour or so somewhere across Denmark. At one point he hit the chair/seat in the front (I thought accidently) and apologised. But then he hit the window . Quite hard. Somehow I wasn't relaxed any more ...
I catched his hand as he was going to hit it again !!!
I explained if he wants to be arrested then he is not too far of that. Luckily he calmed down later.

Maybe I shouldn't have stopped him, then the plane could have landed somewhere in Denmark (I think emergency landing should follow if the window is broken). I haven't been there yet Maybe I will have better luck next time

Wow! Doesn't sound like you had the best experience, eh?
Well, once I was flying home from New York, and they thought they found something in my bag, so they called over all these people and a dog to check it out. Turns out it was just a big block of chocolate I had gotten, and they just had to go smush and put their hands (with no gloves!) all over it... I got pretty mad!
Also, one time I was traveling to Canada, and everyone on the plane except me, my dad, and 3 other people were going to a big event somewhere, but none of them spoke English - only Russian, and they were sitting in our seats, and the only other row was the emergency exit row, but at the time I was to young to sit there, and they didn't understand we were telling them to move.. and yeah it was a big mess :p

Rebecca (: wrote:Wow! Doesn't sound like you had the best experience, eh?
Well, once I was flying home from New York, and they thought they found something in my bag, so they called over all these people and a dog to check it out. Turns out it was just a big block of chocolate I had gotten, and they just had to go smush and put their hands (with no gloves!) all over it... I got pretty mad!
Also, one time I was traveling to Canada, and everyone on the plane except me, my dad, and 3 other people were going to a big event somewhere, but none of them spoke English - only Russian, and they were sitting in our seats, and the only other row was the emergency exit row, but at the time I was to young to sit there, and they didn't understand we were telling them to move.. and yeah it was a big mess :p

Not too bad, at least I didn't have time to be bored
They used gloves to inspect my rucksack (Oh, what an honor ), but I'm just wondering where was the dog in the middle of workday? Probably too tired already for that day.

Yep, the language can cause this and that sometimes
I remember when I was in London for the first time, I bought Oyster card. The women who sold it were so kind to explain me so much about it, but she wasn't talking 'in standard English' so I understood barely a half. (sometimes I don't understand enough anyway lol)
I was also surprised that Oyster card can have a negative balance on it (debt). I couldn't get out of the station and the display showed some ~1.20 GBP (left on the card) and I was explained that it was a negative number. I felt like a complete dumbass (and of course I covered it immediately, unlike some disrespectful fools that treat others in relation to entirely selfish interests (I'm talking about the recent case, where a 'nice' pair attended several top class restaurants in UK without paying, quite like 'bonnie and clyde' 'romantic' style) BTW- Normal people pay for the services they receive in any country.

BTW. I managed to this journey shortly before Winter as the temperatures are expected to be close to minus 18 this weekend
If I will get in sauna by that time, I could enjoy rolling in snow right after the sweating as this is completely normal here (that I can't say about some other crazy and extreme entertainment activities )
I even started to think about possibility to see some good Christmas carols (live) in December (though not exactly right next to my doors )

I've had the chance to do a fair bit of traveling, and with that there are a few stories that come up.

Perhaps the most unusual was when returning from visiting my Mother for a few weeks a few years ago. At that time she was a missionary in northern Cameroon doing literacy work with some of the women in the area. (She has since retired.) I flew into and out of Chad, which was at the time experiencing a little unrest in some of the outlying areas (outlying from N'Djamena, the capital and the airport where I was departing from).

So when my visit was finished, we hired a cab/driver to bring me from where my mom lived across the border and to a guest house, where I'd stay overnight and catch the plane the next morning (or something along those lines). That drive of a few hours went without any big problems, though we did get a flat tire (which is not unheard of on African roads) and the driver had trouble finding a gas station that was not sold out of gas.

In due time, I got to the airport, and through security, and boarded the Air France plane, along with the other passengers--mostly oil company workers, I think. We start to get settled in when the pilot comes on the PA system and announces that there was a fuel shortage and the airport could not sell them fuel for the plane. The french military (peacekeepers), however, had sold them sufficient fuel to get to Niamey, Niger, where they would fill up and then fly to Paris as originally intended.

Unsurprisingly, I missed my original connecting flight back to New York City, and was bumped to a little later flight. My suitcase took an additional day to get back.