The Journey Begins...

4/16/14

Off to a great start!
Hilarious DELTA check-in at Tampa Airport. My elderly female agent asked where I was headed & I said, "Brisbane" (with the correct pronunciation being "briz bun" NOT "briz bane"). She thought I said I was headed to prison. I told her I might end up there if I had way too much fun Down Under.  We both had a good laugh about the whole interchange. 

Then she replaced my printed boarding passes with boarding passes she reprinted with those magical words I have never had on a boarding pass before - "TSA pre check" - which I must admit meant nothing to me. That is until I arrived at security & was able to head off - for the very first time in my life of traveling - to the TSA pre check security line. There was absolutely no one in front of me, so no waiting in line with the rest of humanity. On top of that miracle I did NOT have to remove my shoes or remove my netbook from my backpack. So this is how the privileged travel through the airport - who knew???

Quite honestly I think this was the result of my checking in online last night, including my passport  information and the fact that, for the first time as well, I took advantage of processing my VISA stamp electronically on the DELTA website.  I will miss adding the VISA stamp to my passport collection, but I think the perks more than make up for its absence. (ha ha)

The only negative looks like a 10-minute departure delay to LAX. Just hoping it doesn't get any later, but luggage is checked through and I've got a 2.5 hour layover for padding.