On Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a plane with explosive powder in his underwear. He failed, set himself on fire, and was wrestled to the ground by courageous passengers on a flight without an air Marshall.
Fast forward to my return trip, two days later from London Heathrow to SFO, with a stay in Toronto. The flight from Heathrow to Toronto was easy enough. There were no delays and nothing out of the ordinary. We simply had to wait for the plane to defrost.
The final leg of our journey was a 9:25a flight from Toronto to SFO with an overnight stay in the airport. We were informed from the website that everyone should get to the airport early to avoid missing the flight; so we didn’t get much sleep. When we landed in Toronto, it was already 11:00p EST. The restaurants were closed and we were hungry and thirsty.
Should we sleep a bit before the morning? Alas, we noticed people getting in line already at 2:30a. So we followed them to get our bags tagged. (Only one carry on was allowed per passenger).
Then we waited until 7:00a for the pre-clearance so we could go through US Customs. I tried to stay awake without coffee but my girlfriend kept dozing off. The staff called groups to the door by flight number so one of us had to stay vigilant. Once inside, it was another hour of waiting and questioning. That was followed by a thorough bag check and paper check. Then, we went to the terminals for a physical pat down and underwear inspection. But we reached our designated gate and realized Air Canada had changed the gate on us. The new gate was on the other side of the airport, with a much longer line! So we ran down there, had to go through physical inspection again, and finally made it to the gate minutes before takeoff. Thankfully the flight was delayed for 30 minutes.
The remaining 6 hours was spent on the flight back to SFO, tired but relieved. We had no pillow and no blanket. Our hands had to be in plain sight. But I was so tired, I didn’t care.
To the terrorist who attempted to blow up the plane on Christmas Day and have caused so much trouble to international travelers, f*ck you. To the staff at Toronto and across the world who have had to adapt quickly to the sudden changes in security procedure, thank you.
At Toronto Airport, it was chaotic. But somehow, the staff managed to get most people to their flight. Not an easy job.
But now, I’m back in California. And boy, it feels good to be back. Sleep deprivation is terrible.
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