Leaving, or attempting to leave, for Vietnam

This talk about me being a security threat seems to be a good intro to my trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. For those of you I didn't tell before hand, I went to Vietnam, with a short side-trip to Cambodia for a couple weeks with Matt and Nile. This January trip seems to be becoming an annual event......

The trip started the same as most trips from Israel start.....at least for me......with nearly 3 hours in security in the airport in Tel Aviv. The security check was nearly as intense as the one before I went to Cairo last year (I posted about that one last year).

I, again, was selected for further searching/questioning after the initial interview. My bag was completely unpacked, and all the clothing unfolded and checked with the metal detector individually. I have to say, the El Al employees were generally really apologetic about how much they had to search everything, and by now I totally understand that it's just their job, although I don't totally understand why I always get the extra level of security.

Another thing I didn't totally understand was not only their problems with, but their solution to their problem with my cable lock that I had in my bag. Once my bag was nearly repacked, they told me that I couldn't have the cable lock in my (checked) baggage. By this point I had been there for hours, and didn't care anymore--they were welcome to keep it. A cable lock is a combination lock that has a retractable cable so you can lock your luggage to things.

But they told me that it was fine to bring with me, just not in my baggage ?!? They put it in a seperate security box, which I assume is going into the same baggage compartment on the plane?

This is the cable lock--next to a 5 shekel coin for scale (I realize that for most of you this won't give you any scale....but I didn't have a quarter, which is about the same size) Under the cable lock picture is a picture of the box they put it in--it's sitting on an ottoman for scale (?). They wrapped the lock in layers and layers of bubble wrap before it went in....


After all this was done I was told I'd need a security escort to the plane, which I'd expected anyways. What I hadn't expected was that flight was overbooked--and because I'd spent so long in security, they didn't have a seat for me. But, since I was flying by myself, the agent said she might be able to find me a seat, so I (and my security escort) could just step to the side and wait.

After a while of waiting, my escort said she had to go back to work (I think she was getting bored), so she found me a different escort. This escort handed me off to a third escort after she, I suspect, also got bored (essentially what they were doing was standing beside me while I waited for a boarding pass, making sure I didn't talk to anyone, which I hadn't planned on doing anyways. My flight was getting close to boarding at this point, and as I had no boarding pass, it was starting to look like I wouldn't get it on....still needed that security escort though.

The third escort didn't seem to have anyone to hand me off to, but didn't want to keep standing there, so came up with a new plan so that she could both leave, but also keep the airport safe (!) There's a spot near the check-in counters that is kind-of caged off for the the luggage of stand-by passengers--there's a guard in there watching the luggage so that it doesn't have to get checked again if the stand-by passenger makes it onto the plane.

So my escort simply put me in with the luggage! It must have looked pretty funny--I was sitting on the floor, surrounded by a bunch of suitcases, being watched by a guard. I would have taken a picture, but I was in enough trouble as it was. At one point an El Al employee started laughing at me and saying that I looked like I was in jail.....I told her "well, I kind of am, aren't I?".

Finally they found me a seat, printed me a boarding pass, and the ticket agent ran over and told me that I could get on the plane, but I had to go RIGHT NOW.....of course, my security escort is no where to be found, and I, being the uber-dangerous Canadian girl, am not allowed in the airport by myself. Eventually we found her (she'd assumed I wasn't going to make my flight, so decided to go for coffee), she escorted me through the additional security checks (at least having an escort makes that process go faster) and although I had to run to my gate, I ended up making my flight.

And about 14 hours later me, my backpack...and the security box with my lock...all arrived safely in Vietnam.