London Heathrow Airport SUX

i will never go back to London Heathrow airport ever again - unless the United States happens to win the war on terror and we return to the good ole safe days of the 1950s. Yeah, that's like saying, "when pigs fly". that's how I feel anyway. i'll never go back there until pigs fly. that airport SUX.

the picture here shows how they have totally downsized the carry-on restrictions simply by throwing in some wooden boards into the old model. "carry-on" suitcases are no longer allowed on flights from heathrow. passengers are only allowed one bag the size of a small brief-case. the staff was extremely strict. when i checked in, the ticketing agent made me show him all of my bags and instructed me to get rid of most of my things. he would not process my ticket until i had met the regulations.

then when i got to the security line, they had all these receptacles lined up for people to throw out any liquids, toilettries, etc. the people there made me throw away my chapstick, which made me really upset. now, i had to live through a 14-hour flight with dry, cracked lips - how excruciating!!! damn terrorists! people had such a small amount of carry-on luggage that when i finally boarded the plane (last, i might add, which is an entirely other sad and frustrating story) all of the overhead bins were EMPTY. then, on the other side of the flight, after arriving and when waiting to collect checked-in luggage, all of these little, tiny children's sized bags came pouring onto the conveyor belt. it was clear that people had been forced to check in all of their minute carryon items before boarding. this made the whole process of collecting the luggage at customs even more time consuming...

i'm in korea now... oh my god, i am so tired. i kind of have jet lag too. wow. i have no energy to enjoy korea for the day. oh well. i don't care. the main reason i'm here is to see my friend and his family. and i've already done that, so...

my friend's baby is so cute. she is 2.5 and speaking vietnamese and french already. she was shy when i first got here, but after about 3 hours she started smiling and hanging out with me... she still refuses to give me a little kiss on the cheek though. i gave her a present from switzerland - a stuffed cow which she can wear on her back and use as a backpack.

her parents are really worried because she spent all last week in the hospital with pneumonia. they fight with her to make her take her medicine now that she is back at home. they're worried because she's still coughing. they are concerned about what they should do if the antibiotics fail to make the little girl better.