Oh the horror of having a legal name but typically going by a nickname. Can you see where I’m going? You would THINK that a country with a new Duchess in the same boat would kind of realize…but nope! I’m not that lucky! Dave was a super hero and booked my tickets for me for our trip home (it was easiest for him to do this since we wanted to be on a flight together and he was flying for work). Buuuuuuut…my tickets were booked as Katie while my passport says Kathryn. We met our first obstacle trying to leave the UK. But with a few clicks in a computer (?) and a security signature we were on our way! I was able to produce my US Driver’s License and it was okay…they only checked the ID once. I did feel comfortable knowing that they really were checking tickets and verifying names.
Hurdle #2…metal detectors! Typically I’m fine going through metal detectors but for some reason, this time, something set it off. Hmmm…so the lady asked if she could touch me and I kinda did a double take…a weird statement until I realized what she was really asking…as it turns out it was my bra that set it off. Silly underwire! :) Oh well.
Fast forward to our return flight to the UK. Upon getting to the airport (amidst tears…leaving Tucker at my parent’s house was tougher than I thought it would be!) we had already been checked in but my boarding pass wouldn’t print. So we waited for about 15 minutes in one line just to get to the front and have the man with the rope tell us we needed to be in a different line (one that was SUPER long and NOT moving!). Dave did a little quick thinking and went for the customer service for business travelers (he ‘thinks’ he’s close to status…I’m not sure what that means…but for this time it meant there was about a 5 minute wait in line and then another snag!). The woman behind the counter tried to tell us that we needed to pay $150.00 to get the name on the ticket changed! NO WAY JOSE!!!! So, there she was, scolding us for booking the ticket under the wrong name and I was like “but it IS my name!” and she was like there’s not really anything I can do…it doesn’t match the passport. (And remember this is in the US…we got through the UK just fine!). She ends up calling her supervisor and the line says the wait to talk to them will be 15 minutes…so she picks up a second phone and calls again (this time it says the wait is 7 minutes…who knows!). In the meantime I am searching for ANYTHING that has my photo and says Katie Fedota on it. The ONLY thing I can find in my wallet with Katie on it is my AED Heartsaver Card (yup…the one that certifies that I am CPR/AED certified…thank you Debbie Townsend!)…and that, along with my passport and driver’s license was enough to get me through security without paying the $150.00 to change my name! :) PHEW!!!
So we made it through the bag dropped and headed towards the metal detectors…but we got the body scanners! I always smile going through these for some reason and commented so when I was waiting to get the okay to leave the area and the guy said that when that happens it looks like people are screaming. Kinda funny!!! :) Well, it was fine…except the lady with the blue gloves needed to pat down my hair…the clip I was wearing showed up on the x-ray and she needed to examine it! Oh the drama!
And on a side note…when entering into a foreign country…do NOT say you are there to study! Even if it’s in the sentence “I’m a high school teacher here on vacation just to learn about and study the food and cultures of different countries”. OOPS!!! Bring on the interrogation! When all was said and done it was about 20 minutes at boarder control…first they questioned Dave about why he was here and then it was on to me. She asked when I was leaving, why I was there (again), asked what I was studying (I wasn’t studying anything), questioned what I did there for the 2 weeks in June, asked why I was back in the states for 2 weeks, asked how long I was staying, and then asked me to produce my paperwork showing I had a return flight home in August. I said I didn’t have it with me. She asked if it was on my phone. It wasn’t since a) it was a new phone (email not set up yet) and b) I don’t have the email international plan. The fix…I had to use Dave’s phone to get onto the internet to get into my email to find the folder that had the confirmation email from United. Grrrrr….aren’t tourists allowed to be in a foreign country for 6 months? From here on out I’m always traveling with my documents! It was a wild ride for sure!!!!
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