An Airport Story

Yesterday, I flew to Florida to visit my mom and the travel was a hassle from start to finish: the traffic going out to La Guardia included the usual tie-ups; security was a zoo – travelers convinced they were going to miss their flights and TSA (Transportation Security Administration) inspectors convinced we were all criminals; and, the worst, on the plane, three little kids, who screamed and yelled and cried and jumped up and down and spilled sticky apple juice on no less than 4 passengers while Mom did a word-find puzzle. 

And today I had to do it all over again - in reverse.  So I woke up early, breathed deeply a dozen times and got to the Fort Lauderdale airport early enough to face the security lines without panic, only to discover that I was the only person going through security and that everyone on the TSA team seemed to have gotten up on the right side of the bed, had a good breakfast and graduated from charm school. 

Here’s proof: A TSA woman met me at the start of the x-ray’s conveyor belt and helped me get my stuff arranged in the bins!

Then I walked through the metal detector and the inspector on the other side commented on the pretty pink ink my Mom had used to print out my boarding pass!

All this put the New Yorker in me on high alert. This had to be some kind of set-up.  Maybe we were being filmed for an airport courtesy propaganda clip.  Maybe I was on Candid Camera.  Everyone was so cheery I half expected to find milk and cookies in the pat-down area.

Floating along on this surreal cloud of bonhomie, I was almost relieved when, instead of just whizzing through the scan, my suitcase had to be looked at a second time.  I was at the end of the belt, gathering the rest of my stuff and re-shoeing, when the guy inspecting the computer image of my carry-on called me back.

“Do you collect Hummels?” he asked.

Who woudda thought? 

What he was looking at were a couple of porcelain figurines made by the Hummel factory in Germany that my mother had wrapped up in old towels and given to me.  “No,” I said, “I don’t collect them and I don’t know anything about them.  These were my mom’s.  She’s had them forever and just decided to pass them along to me.”

“Madam,” he said, “From what I can see, it looks like you’ve got good pieces here.  They could be (...pause ... nod) worth something.”  Then he gave me this little lesson:  “When you get home, look at the numbers on the bottom - the lower the number, the more valuable the figure.”

“It’s true,” said the man who’d checked my pink boarding pass.  “You’ve got to look at the numbers.”

By that point, I was giggling and shaking my head in disbelief. 

“You guys are amazing!” I chirped.

“Yeah, we’re not so bad after all, are we?” asked the Antiques Roadshow expert. 

I knew the question was rhetorical, but I called out “not so bad” anyway.

Comments

[Dana]

Yes, this maybe an off the wall question, but have any of you ever seen a Hummel Jewlery box? I have one and can't find anything about it anywhere? Just curious? Thanks

[Dianne]

My mother-in-law got stopped at security due to a bunch of pastelles she had wrapped in foil, which she was bringing back from a visit with her Puerto-Rican relatives in Florida. Apparently the screeners thought it was drugs. We love telling the grammy-smuggling-pastelles story.

[Dorie]

Rona, you've missed your calling: you should be a stand-up comic! What an hysterically funny comment. Good luck on your trip to FLA and, by the way you're right: My mom is cool. And I'm going to tell her you said so, too.

[Rona]

OK, I just re-read this and here's my reaction (considering I'm facing the same challenges in 2 days)
Hummels...not their worth but the sentimental value is priceless.
How cute is that little one with the cake!
You should see the things I bring back after visiting my mom. I think the TSA people are actually afraid to comment. :)
Screaming, misbehaving children should be on a separate plane w/ their parents even though they always seem to end up next to me...and as previously stated, it's not their fault- just poor planning by the parents.
TSA = pas problem. It all depends on your attitude.
Wait! The most impressive thing is that your mom has a computer and printer AND pretty pink ink. Dorie, consider yourself very, very lucky! Your mom is cool!

[Dorie]

I'm not holding out on the numbers. I looked and then put the little guys on the shelf. I'm in Connecticut now and they're in New York, but when we're reunited, I'll post the numbers.

[Tony]

Dorie,

I loved your story. If only we hear more stories like that about the personnel at airports. In all the years I have traveled, I have never had a bad experience....Well, maybe I did, but I just don' recall any.

[Aunt Jenny]

Don't keep us in suspense, Dorie-- how low are the numbers on your Hummels?

[Kelly-Jane]

Candid Camera hee hee!

He's a lovely little man, and a dessert in hand too!

[Dorie]

Carol (Paris Breakfasts), I can picture you wearing a big dice bracelet. I'm loving the idea of thinking of a what could be a TSA distraction ...maybe a pretty box of macaroons would do the trick?

Susan, many thanks for the Hummels lesson and more thanks for the observations about parents and kids. I'm sure you're right about what happens when parents with poorly behaved children talk to the kids' teachers. How frustrating!

[Susan]

Having flown with my children when they were little (they're teenagers now), I know how easy it is to have well behaved children on a flight. It just takes a little forethought and planning. We always made sure to have a few extra snacks in a bag as well as plenty of books to read and puzzle books to work in for them. I guarantee that the parents who ignore their children's behavior on an airplane are the same ones who will tell a teacher that they never see their children misbehave at home so it's not possible that they are misbehaving at school. I have always wanted to say, maybe if you actually paid some attention to them you would see that it is possible!

I do collect Hummels. My collection started with one handed down to me through family. It was one my grandfather bought while visiting Germany shortly after WWII. On our honeymoon, my husband and I bought one at a duty free shop, so the collection began. All of the ones that we have bought do have some significance. Our son plays cello, so we have a Hummel playing a cello. Our daughter is into art, so we have the artist Hummel, etc. The numbers on the bottom refer to the mold, so lower numbers are older. But the Hummel marking is also significant. Many molds were used for many years, so the stamped marking can determine how early in production the figure was made. If the word Goebel is of a decent size, chances are the Hummel was made after 1972. If not, it was made before that. If the word Goebel is not in the marking, then it was probably made before 1964. The older the marking and the lower the mold number, the more it is worth. For example, the one my grandfather had bought has a marking that was used from 1950-1956, a low mold number (under 100) and is valued around $600.

[ParisBreakfasts]

Very funny story Dorie!
I have a bracelet of real dice I bought at the Brooklyn museum of all places. It never fails to get me through customs swiftly.
They're completely distracted by it!

[Dorie]

About the Hummels -- I'm with you Casey and MyKitchenInHalfCups, Hummels were never my favorites, but MyKitchen put it perfectly: their value is attached to their being a gift from my mom. And it doesn't hurt that she had them forever and ever. I can remember when how excited she was when she got a new one -- and I was in elementary school!

Thanks for the chuckle Breadchick!

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

I was never a big fan of the Hummels but my mom gave me several and now I treasure them. I'll have to check the bottoms now but the real value will always be that my mom gave them to me.
I'm always so happy when I can say the air transport was uneventful . . . just doesn't happen too often.

[ruthwells]

Love it -- especially the Hummel-expert TSA employees.

[breadchick]

Having just gotten back from a similar outbound flight and return flight complete with screaming apple juice spilling kids, I had to chuckle. It is amazing to me how the same TSA agent, who two days before was surly and absolutely sure the 1.2oz bottle of hotel shampoo in it's explosion proof quart size zip-lock baggie was a contraband item could the very next day cheerfully ask me "How was your trip? You don't look Sunny...ha-ha".

Sigh. See you at the end of the belt in LGA scrambling for our shoes, putting our belts back on and trying to hustle out of security as fast as we can!

[Casey]

I'm usually not a fan of Hummel figurines, but the little guy in the picture is adorable.