Airports are places filled with a million emotions, not only for those travelling but for everyone there. Human emotions fill airport terminals, and these emotions are experienced in their raw state. We can easily conclude that airports are one of the happiest yet saddest places on earth.
For this post though, I would like us to move away from the joy and agony a little bit and focus on the weird experiences we have come across at airport terminals, especially during security searches.
This comes after a conversation I had with a couple of frequent travellers I bumped into a few weeks ago. We met at one of the cafés in Gaborone and this topic came up during our chit-chat. Experiences shared ranged from awkward moments during border security searches to confiscating of rasgullas and goldfishes and many more.
Below are some of the experiences I shared with them;
Dreadlock search/exam
So I had dreadlocks for close to seven years before I decided to shave them off early last year just for a new look, you know. The experiences I used to have at airports always differed from one demographic to the other. I honestly never knew what to expect.
I remember in 2014 while at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai when I was checking in to return back home, I got what I still think was unnecessary attention by the airport security staff. When it was my turn to go through security search they literally paused and had all eyes on me as one of them searched me. It was like they just saw something they have never seen before (maybe dreadlocks yeah but ….. ) I was slowly becoming agitated and just when I was about to ask them if they had no work to do, one of the passengers shouted from the back of the queue “Quick! Quick! We are going to miss our flight.” That was when they woke up from their ‘dreams’ and got back to work.
The other time I had three different men from airport security carefully inspect my dreadlocks individually. During all this, they kept asking if my hair was ‘real/original’. It felt weird but I decided to keep my cool when I thought of stories about drug smugglers using the dreadlocks technique at the time.
Travel buddy; Octo-Bobo
We all have travel buddies and articles and they come in different forms and also differ from one person to the other. My travel buddy is Octo-Bobo, the yellow octopus seen on the photo above.
“Doll, toy, funny” and many other names coupled with weird looks and finger pointing are some of the things I experience when travelling with Octo-Bobo. Well, I have no idea what goes through their minds when they see me holding a bright coloured octopus across terminals and into the cabin. Air hostesses, potters, security personnel are usually amused and curious and also ask a lot of questions about my choice of a travel buddy.
During one of our travels as we checked in for our Gaborone bound KQ flight from Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi, they passed Octo-Bobo through the security scan machine about six times. I just stood there as they took turns pressing and holding poor Octo-Bobo through the machine as they spoke in Swahili. They also finally snapped out of their ‘dream’ and we proceeded to the boarding gates.
For a bit of a break down on Octo-Bobo; It was a gift specially made by a good friend of mine, Santa from Latvia. We were both living in New Delhi, India at the time and she gifted me one of these awesome artworks of her. In her facebook page she explains them as follows “Octop. is such unique and friendly creature. It makes yours house look more cozy as a interiour element, It helps you to relax after long day, It is always waiting for your hug and attention. As you see, Its not just a soft-toy, but It has its own personality and feelings.”
If you are interested in getting yourself a travel buddy like mine, you can visit the octop website by following this link .
Those are the two experiences that I thought I should share since they are quite unique.
Please feel free to share yours 🙂
LBB Experience 