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2:10 PM, June 24, 2003 (21 hours travel time)
My arrival at LAX gave me some relief. Although I knew I had to go through the pain in the ass of customs, I was off “the flight of 1,000 farts”. I knew that would be a story that everyone else would get a kick out of. I just hoped that the smell hadn’t permanently scarred me.
After getting of the airplane, everyone shuffled into the lines for immigration. I went through immigration quickly due to the fact it seemed that there were very few US citizens on the flight. Immigration examined my passport and sent me on my way.
It took about 45 minutes, yes – you read that right – 45 minutes for my bag to arrive on baggage claim. What a pain that was. Everyone crowding in and some of these people had a LOT of baggage.
I finally claimed my bag and went through customs. I had nothing to declare – I only had about $30 worth of souvenirs and I went on my way. At LAX, if you are connecting to another flight, you can turn right out of customs and enter the international terminal again where they will allow you to drop off your back at a security checkpoint that will be routed to your domestic flight.
I waited in line to drop off my bag for about 10 minutes and now I was free to enter the LAX domestic terminal.
As I exited the international terminal, I was greeted by a man soliciting money for a children’s cause. It was clearly not a scam, and he was an official representative (I can’t remember the organization right now – some children’s fund) so I gave him my last Philippine peso’s (50 peso’s) and I went on my way.
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