I have a new Passport

I woke up today at 6 to line up for a spanish passport. I got there at 6h30 and was 3rd in line. Shortly after the office was open at 9 i got a brand new passport. White sheets and new picture. I hope i dont break this one and lasts till 2012 as it should be.

With the last one i had a few probs crossing borders and getting into different countries. I have a chinese looking face and the passport is a bit broken, bent and without magnetic band, so i have had to wait at the customs line more than once.

The last time was in Singapore where i had to pass a 2nd passport control, and that’s when i told myself i had to make myself a new one.

The “worst” time was in Frankfurt 3 years ago, on my way to Zürich, i had only 40 mins to change planes and the customs officers held me 35 mins checking my passport. I had to show my spanish ID card, student pass, driving license and also a signature check. I thought i was going to lose the plane.

Anyways, hopefully those stories will be over from now and i will be able to pass through the custom’s officer cabin as fast as any other citizen.

Singapore to Madrid by plane

I was in Changi Airport in Singapore, on time. 2h in advance to check in and go throught all the standard procedures. All looking good.

We started boarding on time as scheduled shortly after 23h00, but instead of taking off at 23h59, we had to wait for a take off slot in the airport. We had to wait almost 2 hours inside the plane. It didnt matter much, cos i started talking with the friendly guy next to me and it didnt really feel like “waiting”.

After the command’s second apologies for the delay, we took off. He said he would try to make it on time despite the late take off and so we did. I got to London’s airport only 40 mins late, but the was a heavy traffic to land and so we had to go in circles again with 5 other planes until the plane was given a landing slot. So, we pretty much got to Heathrow 1h late. It was already 7h50 am (instead of 6h40).

My conection flight to Madrid was at 8h20, but i couldnt make it on time because i had to go through a first line on 40 mins to get the airport shuttle to go to Terminal 1. Once in the Terminal, a first line of who knows what for that took another 15 mins. I think it was for people to get rid and throw any bottles or non allowed hand luggage before the security check.

As I was in that line, i could see the last call for my flight to Madrid. I obviously wasnt going to make it so i just stood there hoping everything would work out just fine.

The security check was another 30 mins. People getting half naked to go through a metal detector and then an airport security person would double check just in case. No shoes either. Just shirt, trousers, underware and socks. Everything else had to go through the x-ray machine.

When i made it through the last check, i had to go to a British Airways counter to get another flight ticket back to Madrid. I got one for 9h30. Great. This time, the plane took off only 1h behind schedules, because they needed some time to take off some luggage of people who were supposed to go in that flight but couldnt make it because of the neverending airport security procedures.

When i got to Barajas airport in Madrid, I waited for my backpack eventhough the woman at the British Airways counter in Heathrow airport told me it would probably not be possible to put it in the same flight. She was right.

I made a report at the airport customer service counter and went back home by metro, so hopefully i will get some sort of compensation for all i had gone through and my backpack will be home this morning.

What have i learnt from this?

Be patient, being in a hurry and worrying about the time wont make the line dissapear or make you first in line.

Always to buy direct flight tickets or keep a 3h  safety margin between planes when travelling through big airports (London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, NY, LAX…)