I’m an American who lived overseas for 20 years. I’ve flown many, many times and have had bad experiences as well as good ones. This is a funny story about security in Gatwick Airport in London a few years ago.
My wife and I were living in Saudi Arabia. My mom came to visit us just before Christmas. We all flew home together with a 3 day stop in London.
We checked in for our flight and were going through security. We put our carry-ons through the x-ray machine. I then went through the detector first as the girls take a bit longer to get ready. As I stepped out, the security officer has my mom’s carry-on sitting on the table and asked if it was mine. I replied that it was my mom’s and he was welcome to check anything he liked. He opened the bag and pulled out a heavy object wrapped in layers of tissue. He unwrapped it and revealed a sand rose (a rock) that Mom had picked up in the desert.
The look on his face was really strange. I think he was wondering if this was a weapon or something. I could not help myself; I burst out laughing. He gave me a very strange look and I said, “My dad always told me that she packed rocks in her luggage, but I never believed him until now.” It took a second and the look on his face was priceless.
He replied, “Well sir, I’m sure that this is a very special rock.” He re-wrapped and replaced it in her bag and passed us through with a cheery smile and a wave.
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That made me smile! It's fun to read the horror stories here but it's also Really nice an refreshing to see a sweet or nicely funny story every once in a while. Thank you for posting, you just made my Day! 🙂