Deported

Here I am back in Nashy. I left here Monday and spent 50 something hours between 3 airports. It sucked.

So the best part was when I got back to Philadelphia, I was supposed to have 3 hours to make my Southwest flight to Nashville. I asked the flight attendant when I could have my passport back and he told me that when I deplaned in Philly the gate agent would give it to me. Ok.

So we were an hour late leaving Brussels. 2 hours to make the flight to BNA.

So I get off the plane in Philly and ask some US Airways guy where my passport is. He tells me the agent took it to the checkpoint and I should go there to get it. I go there. I ask a border patrol office where it might be. He says they should have already given it to me. greeeeeat.

He makes some calls, looks around, asks a bunch of people questions. After 30 minutes he has me processed as a lost passport case and I go in the office to wait. Wonderful, maybe they will send me back to Belgium.

As I am waiting I hear the woman behind the desk talking on the phone. She is confused. When the conversation ends she turns to the agent next to her and says "Hey, do you know what the TSA is?" She got a blank stare in return. "He was telling me to call the TSA and ask them?"

"I have no idea" came the response. They were both stumped.

I wanted to cry. The border patrol agents do not know what the TSA is. I am now sure that I will miss my flight to Nashville that boards in less than an hour. I still need to get my bag and bike box, clear customs, change terminals and check in at Southwest, then get through security again. And these people don't even know what the TSA is.

The woman calls my name. I go up to the counter and she says "So, where is your passport?"

"That's what I want to know," I respond, a bit irritated. This raised her eyebrows and her colleague turned to me.
"Come on man, that is not a response," he says. Apparently they have only been told that I have lost my passport, not that US Airways lost it for me.
"I'm serious. Ok, here's what happened. I was turned away in Belgium..."
"Why do I always get a story?" the woman interrupts, turning to her colleague and rolling her eyes.
"US Airways lost his passport," a third officer chimes in from behind me, "seriously." The woman rolls her eyes again and mumbles something about US Airways.

Her colleague concurs. "That's US Airways for ya."

She begins processing me without a passport, asking my social security number and my parents names and birthdays. Another officer walks up to the opposite end of the counter with some papers and a passport. I know it is mine by the stickers on the back.

"Is that mine?" I ask.
"Mr. Hyde?"
"Yes." He hands it over to the woman behind the desk.
"They put it in with the cargo papers," the officer says, chuckling. This provoked more comments about US Airways. She stamped my passport and I ran out of there to get my bags. I threw them on a cart and cleared customs in a flash, guaranteeing that I did not buy a bike in Europe. Luckily the guy believed me.

I made it to Southwest check in about 20 minutes before our scheduled departure. Luckily, just like last week, the evening flight to Nashville was delayed. Good old Southwest. I relaxed, checked in and found some fresh cut pineapple at one of the magazine stands. Made it back to Nashy in time for a sashimi dinner at PM with Sandy and some friends.