Getting Stopped At Security In Frankfurt

As I briefly mentioned in my review of Aer Lingus, going through security across Europe is pretty similar to what you would find in the US. If anything does arise while you go through security it is really easy to understand what the issue is if you speak the same language. Now coming from the US there is a good chance that I speak one language and one language only… English. Now the US really has this backwards as most people that I have encountered in my travels are bilingual or even trilingual. I guess the US has always had the longstanding the the American way is the right way so we should not worry about other cultures and languages, but lets not get into that because that could be a multi-hour debate that I always hope includes some alcohol.

Before I set off on my next trip I always come across someone who asks me if I am nervous to travel because I don’t know the local language. NO! Is always my usual response. As humans, there are many different ways to communicate with someone than verbally. There are many many books and articles that have been published explaining that the words that you actually say mean very very little to the person listening to you (if they still are). I really do follow this philosophy, but it does occasionally fail you.

While connecting a flight in Frankfurt, Germany, I had to be re-screened at security because we had come in on an international flight, went through immigration/customs, and now had to get back into the secure area. I was curious to see if there were any major differences in security, but I didn’t really notice any except that the crowd seemed to be more of business travelers than leisure travelers. I have a bad habit of getting stopped and having to get my bag searched and re-screened because I always forget about something. In Frankfurt I was thinking it should be easy because I already did security once. To my surprise my bag gets pulled off the conveyor belt because I have contraband… crap what could it be this time??

Now keep in mind I am of German decent, but cant speak a lick of it. I looked so German that the nice lady kept talking to me in German about my bag and that there was something that I shouldn’t have inside. At least that is my story because I don’t have a clue what she was really saying, but she kept pointing to an outside pocket on my bag. I think it is my cell phone because I had turned it on and maybe it shouldn’t be on. You know some crazy European law that I didn’t know about. I pull it out of my bag and the lady laughs a little and says no. She then asks another question in German which I simply reply with a very puzzled look. “English?” she asks and of course I get a smile and say yes. Her next question was not that much longer, “Water Bottle?” Then the light bulb went off in my head! I had bought a bottle of water in Washington DC that I had totally forgotten about. You can’t get pass security in Europe with a water bottle either.

I pulled the bottle of water out of my bag and gave it to the nice lady at security. Joked about it a little bit. Thank goodness it was not any worse. I put my shoes back on and I was off to run and catch my flight to Vienna.