I posted last week about our trip to Bulgaria, and just minutes after I posted, the BBC broke a story about how MI5 had foiled a terrorist plot in London. Here's how our journey unfolded under some of the tightest security ever seen by British airports:
Since only essentials for travel were allowed on the plane ("essentials" was defined as travel documents, baby formula, and prescription medication to be taken in flight), we had to dismantle all of our hand luggage. Nothing was permitted to be carried in pockets, and everything had to be in clear plastic bags. We ended up travelling with three large ziploc bags; one contained our passports, tickets and John's wallet, the second contained a disposable changing mat, diapers and wipes, and in the third were two baby bottles filled with water, and a small container of pre-measured formula mix. We took the bare minimum of baby things, since the flight was only 3 hours and Chris is still breastfed, with the odd bottle for topups or fussiness.
We arrived at the airport an hour earlier than we needed to, since we were expecting delays after having seen pictures of what was going on at Heathrow and Gatwick. We checked in, where staff checked our passports, and then went straight to security. Before we walked through the security gate, our passports were checked a second time. Then a security official emptied our ziploc bags and (even though they were clear plastic and she could see everything in them) looked at every single item in each bag. Then she asked John to taste the water in the bottles and the formula in the separate container. So he did. Then we went through the security gate one at a time. On the other side of the security gate was another official with a wand, which she used to scan over me, Georgia, John and Chris. Yes, they scanned my baby. They also had a peek in his diaper, which (fortunately or unfortunately - depending on your point of view) I had just changed. Then there was another security official, who emptied the ziploc bags again, and this time asked me to taste the water and formula. Then, we had to have our passports checked for a third time before passing through to the departure lounge. All the time, we were surrounded by members of the South Yorkshire Constabulary (i.e., the cops) who were carrying BIG machine guns. This is unheard of in Britain, where regular cops don't carry arms and the ones who do are in a highly-trained, special armed response unit that no one sees very often.
Once we got through security, everything was as normal. You could go to duty free and buy booze, you could go to the shops and buy touristy junk, magazines, chocolate, etc. Our flight took off on time, and we arrived at our destination 20 minutes early.
This was at one of the smallest airports in the United Kingdom. I can't imagine what security must have been like at major airports last Thursday. By the time we flew home 2 days ago, the threat level had been lowered from "severe" to "critical", so the journey home was somewhat less eventful. We still had security checks but thankfully, no one looked in my son's diaper.
It's good to be home.
You may have to click on the pics to actually read the comic...
