Veilige reis!

Eh oui, je ne vous en avait pas glisse mot mais j'etais dans une chambre temporaire en raison de mon arrivee hative. Je suis maintenant dans ma "vraie" chambre qui est d'ailleurs bien plus belle que ma chambre temporaire. Je vais vous prendre quelques photos aujourd'hui ou demain.

Arrive a l'hotel sans embuche, on me permet d'avoir ma chambre un peu plus tot. Je vais constater qu'elle n'est pas prete et on m'en assigne une autre. Apres quelques heures de sommeil je pars visiter la ville. C'est humide, nuageux et froid. La grande majorite des trucs sont fermes.

Upon arrival in Brussels, the customs were exactly like in Switzerland which means there was a green arrow with "Nothing to declare written on it" and by following it, you arrive pretty much directly at the taxis. So I took a taxi right to my hotel to drop off my stuff and see if I can check-in early. I'm writing this in the taxi who is cruising comfortably at 140 km/h.

Newark to Brussels was a 6 and a half hours flight and luckily, the place right beside me was free so I had a bit more room. The in-flight entertainment system had around 200 movies available which is quite impressive. I also managed to get some sleep with the help of the Sordins.

Je n'ai pas vu des tonnes de cireurs de chaussures en action dans ma vie ni de gens avec une liasse de billets plus epaisse que mon porte-feuille. Aujourd'hui est un jour special.

Going through customs during a transit means having to go through security once again. The usual US experience except I have not seen any pornoscanners. Water is still a very big deal as I learned watching the lady in front of me. In the side pocket of her bag she had one of the tiny Nalgene bottle (around 400 or 500 ml). Inside that bottle was around 50 ml of water remaining. At the very end of the security process she was informed that water was not allowed. So she asks the officer if it would be OK if she drinks it right away. The answer was a very clear NO, she had to exit the secured perimeter (read go back to the beginning of the waiting line), drink her water there, and then wait for her turn to go through security a second time.

The customs are filled with televisions instructing people how to act and what to expect. What came as a surprise is that all non-US travelers are "required" to provide fingerprints of all 10 fingers. I knew Britain had started to require them but I was not aware that the US had started doing it too. Asking a fellow passenger in front of me in the hour long line if the fingerprints were new, he told me that it has been like that since 2001 and also repeated me 4 or 5 times: "Si t'as rien fait de mal, t'as rien a craindre. Si t'as rien a cacher, y'a pas de probleme."

A chaque fois que je viens ici, je m'etonne de la petitesse de l'aeroport. Les machines de check-in etaient brisees, j'ai donc passe 40 minutes en file pour le check-in. Heureusement, cette attente a ete compensee par l'absence totale d'attente a la securite. Je n'ai pas eu d'offre pour aller au pornoscan, mais on m'a tout de meme frotte les mains avec un minuscule chiffon fixe au bout d'un truc ressemblant etrangement a un Confort Wipe.

Grande surprise aussi au niveau des douanes. Je ferai escale aux etats-unis, un peu moins de 4 heures. Cela peu paraitre ridicule mais je devrai passe les douanes americaines. J'ai deja hate de repondre a la question "How long will you stay in the US, sir?"

Taxi reservation - Check!
Suitcase with everything needed - Check!
Messenger bag containing a 2003 handheld video game console - Check!
270 calories in a convenient form factor for lunch - Check!
Nerdy 1998 glasses to reduce the risk to be sent to secondary inspection - Check!
Sordin earmuffs for the looks, of course - Check!

This will serve as my public journal with regards to my trip to Belgium. We shall see how much stuff I manage to post in the next month.