A Container of Quarters

It was five o'clock Monday morning that it all began...

My sister and I woke up and got ready to leave our beloved home in Switzerland. We arrived in Zürich and began all the security checks. As my carry-on went through the x-ray machine, it got stopped and they put it through again. Sure I packed up random things like slippers, scarves, three kings bread, and a container of quarters, but none of that was suspicious. They asked if I had any coins in there. So, I had to unpack my entire carry-on to get the quarters out while the security guard and me were trying to not laugh too much at the amusing situation. "Never again will I bring quarters in my carry-on." I exclaimed to Heather afterwards.

The ten hour flight to Atlanta went pretty smoothly, though there was a long delay in taking off. And we were quite disappointed in not having our own individual TV screens. as we neared America, the pilot announced, "Due to weather conditions we may be landing in New York, or Michigan instead." Well, as long as I get to Greenville, South Carolina by Tuesday night when I have to check in for school, that's fine.

We did land in Atlanta, one of the very few planes which were able too. Then we went through security again to get to the baggage claim. I just automatically took my quarters out of my bag, but they still stopped and looked at me strange as they picked up the container, "What's this?" "Quarters, I thought I would take them out a while since I would have to anyway." "Hmmm." We then got our luggage, but our flight to Greenville was cancelled. Thankfully our school changed the check in day to Friday because of the weather. We got our rebooked flight for Greenville, which left five in the evening the next day. Which means we spent the night sleeping in the Atlanta airport.

While failing to sleep at three in the morning, a Fox News reporter approached us and asked to interview us. This was really exciting, I hope I can put this on my resume if I ever get my dream job with Fox News! After them, NBC eleven o'clock news interviewed us. And lastly we got our picture taken, though I'm not sure if that was for a news paper or not. CNN was walking around too, but they didn't interview us (I always knew I liked Fox News better!).

After the long night and even longer day of watching movies and trying to sleep, as well as eating airport food, we finally were able to begin the check in process again. We checked in our bags and went through security again. I was so tired and couldn't find my quarters in my carry-on, having been buried under my scarves I had unpacked for blankets during the night So I decided to just keep them in the bag. But Atlanta is a lot more strict then Zürich, and they took my bag aside to be unpacked by a security guard. I stood nearby as she pulled out scarf, after scarf, after scarf. Then she pulled out very squished three kings bread, and gave me a strange look. Finally she pulled out the quarters and dumped them mostly out. Again I exclaimed to my sister, "Never pack up quarters in a carry-on!"

We waited for our flight, it was on time for a very long while. But then we had a gate change. We moved to the new location and waited longer, it was delayed. "Our co-pilot has not arrived, we will board as soon as we get another co-pilot." The announcer kept saying. This went on for a while till it was a little after eight. We were finally boarded and ready to take off, when the stewardess made the most horrible announcement, "It is too icy for the pilots to make the return flight after going to Greenville so this flight has now been cancelled." We were deboarded, and with the prospect of spending another night in the airport, Heather and I decided to go to the baggage claim, get our luggage and our friend would pick us up in the car.

At baggage claim, we realized our bags were checked through to Greenville and would not be returned to us. So we decided to avoid losing baggage we would travel with it, and stood in the long line to rebook our flight. The next flight left in a little less then an hour. In panic, we hurried through security...again. I dug hastily for my quarters, but just couldn't find them anywhere, "NEVER PACK QUARTERS IN A CARRY-ON!!" I kept saying to myself as the clock ticked down the time. I did finally find them at the bottom of the bag, we got through security, and made it to our gate in plenty of time. That flight was on time, we got on, we left the gate, we flew to Greenville, and arrived at eleven o'cock at night on Tuesday!

We made our way down to baggage claim and as we waited for our bags to arrive, our friends came with hugs and well wishes! ...but our bags did not. Apparently our bags did not come on that flight and will be shipped to our friend's house as soon as they arrive, hopefully today. But at least I would be sleeping in a warm bed that night, at least I have the few things in my carry-on, and at least I have my container of quarters (which I will never pack in a carry-on again!).

Delta, AirTran to Cancel More Flights: MyFoxATLANTA.com