Why are you coming to the UK?

4:00 am came early, but I had time for a bite before heading for the airport.

The plane was full and I was in the center seat of row 20, the last row before the toilets. The noise in the back of the plane with an engine on each side was almost more than my earplugs and noise reduction headset could handle.

Little did I know this would be a small irritation.

When I arrived at passport control I was at the end of the line. My line, those not having a UK or EU passport was rather short, but I was at the end of it. The immigration official asked where I was staying; I dug around in my computer bag and found the instruction to the training center and handed that to her. Then she asked what my occupation was, and why I was coming to the UK. When I said I was going to a training course, she asked for my invitation letter. I looked through papers for something that might say that I had two training courses for my future volunteer assignment. Nope, nothing like that printed out.

She told me to take a seat and kept my passport while she disappeared for 10 minutes or so. She called the training center and they thought I was a Dutch national. This is not looking good. After a few minutes more, she let me go with a stern warning, If you come to the UK again, be sure to have a copy of your invitation with you.

I walked into customs and headed for the "nothing to declare" door, where I was stopped by the immigration lady's friend. This one went through my back pack and asked the same questions her colleague had asked. This is getting a little old.

After clearing customs, I passed a policeman, and expected him to stop me and ask me questions. I am sure I had Terrorist American stamped all over me.

From the airport arrival hall to the training location is about an hour of monorail, rickety old train, and an even older bus. When I arrived at the training center, there was a closed automatic gate at the entrance. I pushed the button and waited. Then I pushed it again, and nothing happened. I thought there should be someone around, after all the immigration people called the training center. OK, I hate to use my Swiss mobile phone because this will be an expensive call but I was getting cold. I called and the training center manager said she would open the gate as soon as she could.

I have made it.