We woke up at 7AM in the morning so that we can get ready and everything into the car by 8:30PM. The freeway was very clear during this 4th of July. We were on the 405 to the 605 to the 10 and they were all clear. Then we took the 710 to the 110 and then 105 to get to LAX. Our terminal was 3 because we were going on China Eastern. Another name for terminal 3 is the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

We were dropped off by the curb and we went in. We were told to go check-in to get our boarding passes. Then after we tell them we were checking in just ONE piece of luggage, we were told to go to the security check-point. Thank goodness we had the TSA luggage lock. Otherwise we would have to unlock our suitcase before putting it through the machine.

Then I ate a very expensive Hagen Daaz ice cream cone while we waited for our flight. They had electrical outlets by the windows on the 2nd floor food court at LAX so I was able to charge my laptop at the same time.

Then we decided to head toward our terminal 1.5 hours before our flight. There the LAX security was even tighter. NO DRINKS ALLOWED! Everyone was throwing away their water bottles. Then we had to take off our shoes, our jackets, and EVERYTHING that was in our pockets. The TSA security didn’t give very good instructions and everyone was confused as to what needed to be out and how far we needed to walk.

We had our 3 ounces and smaller liquids in our ONE ziplock baggie and everything was fine.

Then we placed our laptop in the same container as some of our other items and got yelled out to place the laptop in its OWN container for screening.

All that yelling and shouting could EASILY be avoided if THEY HAD SIGNS!!! After all, most people can read English in America. Or maybe if they had a loud speaker to tell people what to do, instead of waiting until the last second to start yelling out all the instructions.

Anyway we passed the TSA security drama and what do we see??? AQUAFINA WATER FOR SALE!!! Yes these stores in the airport are making BIG bucks! $1.99 for a bottle of water. The same bottle I had to toss away just minutes before. But since these water bottles were sold AFTER the TSA security, they were somehow magically safe to bring on board the airplane.

Sometimes I really think all this security was just a big bottled water conspiracy.

Added on July 12, 2007:

Our flight by China Eastern from LAX to Shanghai

One of three meals provided by China Eastern

Bug that accompanied me the entire 13 hour flight to Shanghai