Got a ticket; had trouble getting a ticket

This morning I flew back to Port-au-Prince. It wasn’t quite as easy as I hoped:
My flight was at 8:25 eastern out of ATL; which meant we had to leave our house in central time at 4:00AM. We were pretty close to that, cutting it a bit close.

As I pulled into the Atlanta airport curbside drop off, I looked for a place to pull in. Suddenly I notice a cop flashing his lights behind me. I pull over and sit; the cop isn’t getting out. So I get out – after all, I have an international flight to catch and I’m late. The cop hops out and tells me to remain in the car (mentally picture an overweight georgi cop saying “sir, I’m gonna have to ask you to remain inside the vehicle”). He then takes my license and insurance and asks me why I didn’t stop for the two folks in the cross walk. I didn’t see anyone, I reply. In fact, it is a four lane road going one-way. Apparently there were two people on the left side of the cross walk as I went over it in the right lane. The cop took forever writing me a ticket, even after I explained I was late for an international flight. Great. Court date is in April. Beautiful; I’m sure I’ll spend a couple hundred bucks to be back for that. It was annoying ‘cause obviously no one was at risk here. C’est la vie. Thankfully Mandy took the ticket and has called to check on how much we need to send since I can't make the court date. Some gentleman watching the whole thing came up afterwards and was like “wow, the economy is in rough shape, they have to pull in money however they can.”

I rushed into the airport. Then, at the check-in desk I was told I would not be allowed to board my flight because I have no return trip booked. I explained that this is what I “always” do (always meaning the one other time last month) and that Haiti lets you do this. She was having none of it; she told me it is a state department rule – you cannot enter Haiti without a return trip booked. I felt like asking her if she had been to Haiti – I can assure you there is not a huge problem with people sneaking into Haiti from the US. Instead I pitched a well-controlled fit; “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me – this is unreal.” Finally, I just told her to let it be my problem, let them send me home. She told me they get fined for that. Meanwhile its 7:40 and my flight is at 8:25 and I am yet to clear customs, etc. I tell her that I m going to New York in April (which I am) and she begins looking for flights to book for me, still insisting that I have a return trip before boarding. She finds a round trip ticket (on American Airlines, her airline of course) for the dates I need to NYC – for 750$. I tell her no. I say I can find the ticket elsewhere for 500$ and that this is ridiculous. I then pull out a pad and write her name down and tell her I m going to need to report all this to Cornell. I was like, look, I’m with Cornell University. They are sending me there and this is what they told me to do. I need to get your name and all this information reported back to them. She was like “Cornell told you to do this? Well that’s not right”. I told her “All of us that work there do this all the time.”

Finally I just stood there. She was typing stuff on the computer and finally said “ok, I’m not supposed to do this, but here’s an itinerary for the April flight as proof you’re coming back. It’s not an official ticket though and you haven’t been charged. But if you decide you want it you can go online and purchase it still.” Thank god this didn’t happen on my first trip down – I would not have known to argue and tell them I was allowed and all that. It seems like the older I get the more I realize that most of life isn’t in the rulebooks, but rather is a matter of you talking to people and arguing for what you need.

For now it’s back to Haiti. Speaking of immigration issues, watched the visitor (2007) last night. Worth watching; very good conversation starter.

My plane that was to arrive in Haiti at 3:30. In typical fashion, the flight was delayed and delayed; then we loaded the plane and were told to get off and get on a new one. I finally arrived at the compound after nine tonight. It was nice to see my friends and family and try to rest and heal. It is also nice to be back. I was surprised no one asked to see my itinerary for my return flight in April. No one even inquired when I would return. I am a "tourist" again.