Wednesday, January 17, 2007

A Funny thing that happened while at the Airport!

Two rather amusing things happened at the beginning our our travels. The first was while we were in St. Louis going through the security check to get to our gate to travel to New York ( to try to get the flight to Moscow....that we did not catch!!). At any rate, as I mentioned before, during our packing, we were afraid the bags would be too heavy ( I must be psychic!!!), so we added an additional bag and decided to take a carry-on, with spare clothes and emergencies and such, in case our baggage was lost. Wayne carried the "carry on" bag, and he was in front of me. As soon as his bag went through the X-ray machine......they requested to open and search it. Suddenly...... a large group of TSA agents swarmed on the bag and a large commotion began to take place!!! Wayne looked frantic and motioned me over. I ran over and looked in the bag......only to find all these huge bottles of lotions and creams we had purchased to give as presents for the orphanage caregivers......about 150 ounces of liquids and gels!! YIKES!! I said to my husband, "Honey, don't you remember when we went shopping for our own lotions and gels, soaps, etc, that could only be THREE ounces ......or less??" HA!! I guess in our haste of shuffling and redistributing the weight, we accidentally put the "illegal volume" in our carry-on!! SHEESH!! Once we explained to the TSA agents what the items were for, they were very understanding, and we had plenty of time to go back to the counter and check that bag, so we could still take the gifts to the orphanage workers. I was relieved we were allowed to continue on our journey.......and not go to jail!! The second funny thing was the next day, when we were actually going to be able to get on the Aeroflot flight to Moscow from New York. I was standing in line for check in, and the Aeroflot attendant at the counter began speaking all of this Russian to me!! When I began to speak to her in English, she immediately had a surprised look on her face and apologized to me saying she was sorry, but I looked Russian, and what was why she was speaking to me in Russian. Gee.......I wonder what gave it away???? My Cardinals Shirt or my Cardinals earrings????? !!!!! Seriously, I was also wearing a very heavy wool, long dress coat I had purchased 6 or 7 years ago in one of those trendy mail catalogs......oh, and when I got the coat and read the inside label?? It stated "Made in Russia"......imagine that! The fur on my wool hooded scarf contributed to the image as well, I am sure. I bought that fur scarf in New York as graduation present (for one of my numerous and many graduations that I seem to keep doing.....HA!!) I am personally one who believes in protecting animals, and I am against cruelty, but at the same time, being a medical person, I do believe some type of animal testing is tolerable, if cruelty is not involved and if it is for the benefit of saving human life. So, purchasing the fur was something I had to weigh carefully. It turned out that is was Canadian fox bred specifically to be used for such things. Secretly, I hoped my scarf was from a very small, starving fox that was euthanized due to poor health. But then again.......maybe those Russians are big on those World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals!! Yeah, right!!!

4 comments:

Cathy said...

Susan:
So glad you are home safe and sound! Your trip back sounds almost as crazy as your trip over to Russia...maybe you got all the bad timing out of the way this time so your return trip will be somooth, right? (ha!) Glad Tav and Rem are so excited to welcome the boys home.....can you tell us anything more about them (the new additions, that is!). Praying for a quick court date you for :o)

Deb said...

Glad you finally made it home. Sounds like you had a very interesting and exciting trip.
Glad your kids are looking forward to bringing your new boys home. So sweet of them to start setting the room up.

mommyto5 said...

So glad to see you are home safe and sound, wow what an advventure you have been on can't wait to hear about your court date and about the boys, prayers going out for a quick court date!

Elle said...

Welcome home! Glad you had a good trip and we'll be praying for a quick court date for you guys.