Germany/France — July 31, 2012 — Going Home

My flight From Charles de Gaulle Airport to Philadelphia was scheduled for 11:30. I had bought a subway ticket on Monday for the long ride, and I had pretty much figured out where I could pick up the right line near my hotel. Still, I wanted to allow plenty of time and checked out shortly after 8:00. Things went reasonably smoothly all the way, with just a few things worth mentioning.

After the subway train came to the surface, I could see the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Sacré Coeur) on Montmartre for a while. (Pics here.) One more spot among the attractions of the city which I saw without its having been on my list.

There was standard passenger screening by the American TSA for all passengers boarding the flight. I wonder what would have happened if all countries had said to the U.S., "You can handle security in your airports. We'll handle it in ours." Well, at least it gives TSA personnel a chance to spend time abroad on Uncle's dime. I happened to get randomly selected for enhanced screening at the gate, which meant that as I started along the walkway between the gate and the plane I was required to let a TSA person inspect my carry on bag and pat me down.

When we were seated on the plane, I decided to read something, and found that my reading glasses were not in my jacket pocket. They weren't in any other pocket or in my bag either. I was wearing them as I left the hotel, and I realized that I didn't need to wear them on the way to the airport, so I took them off. My best guess is that I lost them at one of two points: either I missed my pocket when I went to put them in it right after I took them off, or they fell out of the pocket when I heard the unusual thudding sound in the subway (I checked the floor but not my seat to see if I had dropped anything). My other pair had disappeared during the week before I left. So when I got home I bought two pairs at the drugstore — on a two for the price of one deal. A day or two later my old pair turned up. So no I have one pair for upstairs, one for downstairs and away from home, and one for the cellar, where my computer and checkbook live.

At Philadelphia, as usual, we had to pass through Immigration, collect our checked luggage, and go through Customs. Then those with connecting flights gave back our checked items and went through another regular TSA screening, even though we had never been outside the secured area or had any way of being in physical contact with anyone from "outside." So it seems to have been a complete waste of time and effort. Things like this make me think there is some accuracy to the term some people apply to TSA operations at airports; "security theater."

I was in plenty of time for my connecting flight to Boston and for my van ride home.

I've now added pics to my post covering July 25.