Off with a Pop...

As most of you already know, I did not leave the States without incident. Here is what happened...

The last few weeks before leaving were pretty hectic; my idea to get rid of most everything I owned took far more time than I expected, and I was still frantically running around doing just that up until the moment I left. I ended up packing moments before my good friends Colin and Heidi picked me up and drove me down to Denver. There, I met up with my other good friends Tim and Becky. I stayed with them that weekend, and they dropped me off at the airport the following Monday.

Then it got interesting.

I had just handed over my bag at the checked baggage counter, and started to walk away when I heard a commotion behind the counter. Everyone was getting very excited and talking about noises and burning smells. I stared at my large green and black backpack, the Albetross, lying there, wishing desperately that it wasn't mine. I then started answering a lot of pointed questions from the manager, then security, then the police, and eventually, the FBI.

One of those blasted party poppers that you throw on the ground, which I remember wrapping in something soft so they wouldn't go off, had somehow ended up in my bag. And, despite being jostled and moved around all weekend, one managed to go off right then. Typical.

After the fire department cleared the terminal, and once the bomb squad found the things, everyone became a lot more relaxed. Joel, the FBI agent, was actually pretty darned funny. (It may actually be a technique to get potential lunatics to confess their sins.) Still, I missed the flight and wound up spending the night in the airport. Too bad, too, as I could have watched it on the nightly news. I got to read about it online, though: http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/26122639/detail.html 

 The next day, after apologizing profusely to British Airways, they let me on the next flight.


London was good- I met a cousin there I wasn't even aware of and found to be a wonderful kindred spirit. But, despite the mulled wine and wonderful cozy pubs, it was just too cold and I got my ticket to Morocco.

Then, it got interesting, again.
But that's for next time...