It’s Good to be in DC-land (election-era jibjab song)
This has been one of the best trips so far, considering that I had an obviously overweight suitcase. Besides, after sweating the whole morning, it was nice to be in an airconditioned taxi and airport. The Lord has really made this trip a blessing:
1) I had 3 legs: Cartagena-Bogota, Bogota-Miami, Miami-Reagan. I had an empty middle seat on both the first and the last nlegs (even though on the Miami-DC they announced a full-flight) and had a row of 3 seats to myself on Bogota-Miami flight. Wow!
2) I never had to pay the extra for my monster of a suitcase!!!
3) One of the most wondrous things ever: absolutely no line at US immigration point in Miami. For those of you who travel internationally and especially as a non-US citizen, you are very familiar with the tremendous lines at these check points and the amount of time you have to wait. The whole place was empty, and I literally walked to the immigration officers’ booth right when I came in. That has never ever happened to me before!
One more interesting, but less exciting point: even though Colombia is often perceived as an unsafe country with a large guerilla and narcotraffickers presence, I never felt unsafe in that regard. The only two times I realized that the country has internal security problems are on the field trip during the conference when we were not allowed to go to the highland areas to visit the trout farmers and at the Bogota airport. I had to go through 3 or 4 security points, was body-searched twice, asked the “has anyone put anything in your bags”-type questions twice (once at check-in and once at the gate), and my luggage was physically searched (everyone had to go through the same security procedures).
While it was nice to travel and get to know Colombia, it is sooo nice to be back home. Im writing this on the Miami-DC flight in the eager expectation of the upcoming arrival to my city and my apartment. I have really missed my computer, my bed, my TV shows, my gym, and my tea!
1) I had 3 legs: Cartagena-Bogota, Bogota-Miami, Miami-Reagan. I had an empty middle seat on both the first and the last nlegs (even though on the Miami-DC they announced a full-flight) and had a row of 3 seats to myself on Bogota-Miami flight. Wow!
2) I never had to pay the extra for my monster of a suitcase!!!
3) One of the most wondrous things ever: absolutely no line at US immigration point in Miami. For those of you who travel internationally and especially as a non-US citizen, you are very familiar with the tremendous lines at these check points and the amount of time you have to wait. The whole place was empty, and I literally walked to the immigration officers’ booth right when I came in. That has never ever happened to me before!
One more interesting, but less exciting point: even though Colombia is often perceived as an unsafe country with a large guerilla and narcotraffickers presence, I never felt unsafe in that regard. The only two times I realized that the country has internal security problems are on the field trip during the conference when we were not allowed to go to the highland areas to visit the trout farmers and at the Bogota airport. I had to go through 3 or 4 security points, was body-searched twice, asked the “has anyone put anything in your bags”-type questions twice (once at check-in and once at the gate), and my luggage was physically searched (everyone had to go through the same security procedures).
While it was nice to travel and get to know Colombia, it is sooo nice to be back home. Im writing this on the Miami-DC flight in the eager expectation of the upcoming arrival to my city and my apartment. I have really missed my computer, my bed, my TV shows, my gym, and my tea!
posted by HM at
11:04 AM
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