Indianapolis, Indiana
Jun. 27th, 2003 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenWell, I'm here. Typing this offline because I'm not entirely sure if this computer has a net connection. It might be an idea to check, in a moment.
The journey was tiring but not as awful as it could have been. I had my fellow travellers to keep me company, and while I was rather frightened at customs in Philadelphia, they let me through without any hassle. However, they were having problems. The cargo door on the plane wouldn't open, so it took them two hours to get the luggage out, and once I'd got it, all I had to do with it was drag it across the arrivals hall, say "I have nothing to declare" and put it in for transfer. So that took an inordinate amount of time, but once down, I set out on the journey to the right terminal, which took me outside for the first time. And so it happened that the first words I spoke when on American soil proper were, "Holy crap, it's hot!"
It was hot, though. Thirty-five degrees, and I was parched by the end of it. When I got to the right terminal, they made me take my shoes off. Apparently they were a security risk. The raging paranoia here still astounds me. Plastic explosive in the soles of my boots? Oy. Anyway. I had quite some time to kill, so I wandered around, had a look in a bookshop, for the hell of it, flicked through the American editions of Harry Potter. I understand some changes - I mean, you can't expect Americans to know what a jumper or a sherbet lemon are, but I didn't understand why "Boggarts" and "Dementors" become "boggarts" and "dementors." I just mentally categorised that fact as inexplicable. Anyway. I also took the Cosmo Girl quiz - "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" and strangely enough the answer was not "Because you're a bicurious bitch with issues and an unsatisfied need to bite Brian Molko."
While I was sitting in the departure gate, reading, some guy asked to look at my copy of Harry Potter because it was different from his. He asked me if I knew who dies - I said yes, of course, but he then put his fingers in his ears. Talking to him killed half an hour or so, half an hour in which the flight was delayed, but by the time I got onto the plane, I was just about exhausted. Therefore, on arrival in Indianapolis, I was not happy to find out my check-in luggage is in Philadelphia. And it's not just mine, it's everyone's who was on the flight. Incompetence, gah. They say they'll get it flown here today. I'm not holding my breath.
So, yes, I'm here. It's eight o'clock in the morning. My mother has just been on the phone - she told me to keep it quiet, but she passed her English exams. Finally. She's over the moon and rang me up purely to jump and down a bit. I'm so pleased.
Now if only my stuff were here. And this connection wasn't so slow, but you can't have everything.
The journey was tiring but not as awful as it could have been. I had my fellow travellers to keep me company, and while I was rather frightened at customs in Philadelphia, they let me through without any hassle. However, they were having problems. The cargo door on the plane wouldn't open, so it took them two hours to get the luggage out, and once I'd got it, all I had to do with it was drag it across the arrivals hall, say "I have nothing to declare" and put it in for transfer. So that took an inordinate amount of time, but once down, I set out on the journey to the right terminal, which took me outside for the first time. And so it happened that the first words I spoke when on American soil proper were, "Holy crap, it's hot!"
It was hot, though. Thirty-five degrees, and I was parched by the end of it. When I got to the right terminal, they made me take my shoes off. Apparently they were a security risk. The raging paranoia here still astounds me. Plastic explosive in the soles of my boots? Oy. Anyway. I had quite some time to kill, so I wandered around, had a look in a bookshop, for the hell of it, flicked through the American editions of Harry Potter. I understand some changes - I mean, you can't expect Americans to know what a jumper or a sherbet lemon are, but I didn't understand why "Boggarts" and "Dementors" become "boggarts" and "dementors." I just mentally categorised that fact as inexplicable. Anyway. I also took the Cosmo Girl quiz - "Why don't you have a boyfriend?" and strangely enough the answer was not "Because you're a bicurious bitch with issues and an unsatisfied need to bite Brian Molko."
While I was sitting in the departure gate, reading, some guy asked to look at my copy of Harry Potter because it was different from his. He asked me if I knew who dies - I said yes, of course, but he then put his fingers in his ears. Talking to him killed half an hour or so, half an hour in which the flight was delayed, but by the time I got onto the plane, I was just about exhausted. Therefore, on arrival in Indianapolis, I was not happy to find out my check-in luggage is in Philadelphia. And it's not just mine, it's everyone's who was on the flight. Incompetence, gah. They say they'll get it flown here today. I'm not holding my breath.
So, yes, I'm here. It's eight o'clock in the morning. My mother has just been on the phone - she told me to keep it quiet, but she passed her English exams. Finally. She's over the moon and rang me up purely to jump and down a bit. I'm so pleased.
Now if only my stuff were here. And this connection wasn't so slow, but you can't have everything.
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no subject
on 2003-06-27 08:50 am (UTC)Yep. Welcome to summer in America! Do enjoy your stay, and seek out air conditioning whenever possible. :D
she passed her English exams.
Whoo-hoo! *bounce* Congratulations to your mother. Well done.
Hope you get your luggage back soon, too!
no subject
on 2003-06-27 11:34 am (UTC)I hate to defend our bumbling, incompetent government, but I have to say this is justified. About a year ago, a man tried to blow up his plane by hiding explosives in his shoes and then lighting them on fire, or something like that.
Welcome to Amercia.
no subject
on 2003-06-27 01:08 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2003-06-27 01:12 pm (UTC)