SSSS

Guess what, peoples . . . I went to Japan and am back already.  

It had occurred to me that it wouldn't be wise to announce to potential burglars when exactly we'd be gone so I had a few blogs scheduled to post while we were away.

We just got back yesterday, and I wanted to share what happened to me at the airport in Japan.  

In the photo below you can see that the boarding pass that was given to me after we checked in our baggage showed SSSS on the bottom, highlighted in pink for extra measure.  I looked at Wendell's pass and his didn't have it.  I suspected that something wasn't quite right so I took the photo.

It turns out that SSSS means Secondary Security Screening Selection.  

When it came time to board the plane I handed my pass to the gal at the gate, she took one look at it and announced "QUAD S!" Right away another gal appeared from behind a curtained area and said to me, "random screening; follow me."

I sat on a chair behind the curtain.  She asked me to take off my shoes.  She quickly swabbed both of my palms, the area around my pockets, under my socks, and around the zipper and handle of my carry on. She then stuffed the swab into an opening in some kind of machine.

She asked if she could check the contents of my carry on.  I said, "sure". 

The whole process took just 2 or 3 minutes max . . . really fast.  Not an inconvenience at all. 

But I still felt a bit annoyed.  Did the check-in gal flag me because I looked suspicious?  Did I look like I might be carrying drugs?   Did she mistake my sleep-deprived glassy eyes for my being stoned?  Or was she just mad at me because I couldn't understand a word she was saying and she kept having to repeat herself.  

I did notice that she was striking her keyboard pretty hard as she typed what I assume was "S!" "S!" "S!" "S!".