I recently traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, FL for work. I get to meet and work with so many “different” people and this trip wasn’t any different. At the end of the third day I visited a very nice doctor. He ordered some of my product and we sat and talked over Cuban coffee. Needless to say I was bouncing off the walls about 30 minutes later. At the end of our meeting he offered me an avocado. Not being a fan of avocados but not wanting to be rude I accepted it and decided to bring it home to Texas and take it to my parents. They LOVE avocados!
The next day I carried the avocado into every doctor’s office I visited. I didn’t want to leave it in the hot rental car. – that’s right…”Have avocado will travel”…my mom loves westerns-what can I say! Finally, it was time to go to the airport. I checked my bags, but decided to keep the avocado in my purse. As I was going through airport security I all but forgot about the avocado…
As I’m standing at the end of the conveyor belt waiting for my shoes, laptops and my purse with the avocado; the TSA agents at the screen kept staring at me.
Panic set in… Did I forget to put all my liquids in a baggie; was there a bottle of liquids over the 3oz??? I consider myself a pro when it comes to traveling because I travel at least once a month for work and there was no way I made an amateur mistake. All I could picture was getting violated by a “female” TSA agent with a beard named Bertha.
Finally, the two men standing at the screen asked, “Do you have an avocado in your purse?” Oh craps! They got me! “Yes, I have an avocado.”
“Did you leave the country?”
“No. I promise the avocado is legal and from here.”
“Are you going to share it?”
“Huh? No… I’m hungry.”
“Ok… Have a good day. Enjoy your avocado.”
Wait… really! Did this just happen to me? “Enjoy your avocado”… As much as I dislike the fact that the TSA already gets to violate people at their choosing and I hate the new scanners at the airports…Especially, when there’s some perverted guy working it who probably has never seen a real live girl naked and he gets a little excited at the outline of the female form… I was a little shocked at how easy it was for me to get past security.
As a Texan I guess I shouldn’t be shocked. I see “illegal avocados” who have snuck across the border from Mexico every day… And as the grandchild of a legal avocado from Mexico it’s a little frustrating...to say the least!
visit www.theavocadochronicles.com
visit www.theavocadochronicles.com
