The border control agent seemed very skeptical about a solo traveler staying in the UK for only one day. For a moment, I thought there was going to be a problem, but he let me through and I got my bag without any issues. I found it amusing that you had to pass through a duty free shop in order to exit the customs area. Once you pass through the customs area, you get to the arrival area which was exactly like in the movie “Love Actually”. Alas, there weren’t any Colin Firths or Hugh Grants waiting for me. . .

I was worried about having only one hour and 40 minutes for my connection in Amsterdam to London, as I was not sure if I would have to go through immigration and/or get my bag, go through customs, and re-check my bag. Luckily, I didn’t have to do any of that and had plenty of time to make my connection.

The gate from where my connecting flight departed was enclosed by walls on three sides with the fourth side being a security screening area. When I got to the gate, there were several people already sitting in the screening area, but no one was manning the security check. I walked through the metal detector and found a place to sit. Sometime later, a person with the airline came over and asked everyone to leave the seating area and make a line outside the gate so we could all go through the security screen. A few people with the airport security came over and did a very thorough check of the now vacant seating area, which included a pat down of the vinyl seats and screen of the garbage. I thought it was strange that they didn’t just close off the waiting area until it was time to screen the passengers to save them the step of having to screen the waiting area itself. The security check took quite a while and was more thorough than I expected, including the need for everyone to remove their tablets from their bags and take them out of their cases. They even made the flight crew go through the security check, including the pilot! It was strange to see the pilot taking off his shoes and belt for the security check.

On my flight from SeaTac to Amsterdam, I sat by a nice guy named Vince. He is originally from Saipan and now works as a contractor doing some sort of electrical work on Kandahar Air Base. When he said that he’s from Saipan, I believe I said something colossally idiotic like, “You’re from the what?” Hopefully that is my only “Stupid American” (and it turns out that Saipan is a territory of the US!) moment on this trip! It was fascinating to hear about the living conditions at the Kandahar Air Base and some of the goings on there. It turns out that there are several big US-based chain restaurants on base, alcohol is not permitted, and it can sometimes rain hard enough there to overturn a Humvee! He gave me some travel trips for going to Dubai (a popular getaway for contractors in Kandahar) complete with a tourist map! This was great, as I am considering a trip to Dubai, possibly next year.

By popular demand, here is my travel blog! I’m not sure how well it will turn out since I’ve never blogged before, but so many people asked me to do this, so here goes. . .