Road Tripper

When I was presented the opportunity to join my dad and 14 others on a 10-day Holy Land Tour, I accepted without hesitation. While visiting some of the holiest sites in the Christian faith, we had the opportunity to attend masses conducted by our host priest (and fellow traveler). This was certainly a biblical tour, but I learned so much about the history, culture, and politics of old and new Israel. I spent my birthday aboard a wooden boat as it crossed the Sea of Galilee; I proudly witnessed as my dad served communion wine at mass in Shepherd's Field (which to this day I have not told him that I organized for him); we watched and waved as thousands of bicyclists passed our hotel for an annual event. No one can ever take the memories of this Pilgrimage from me. What they did try to take was a bottle of cologne.
Before heading back to reality, I first stopped at a duty-free shop to pick up a bottle of my favorite cologne. I was quick to learn, during our layover in Frankfurt, DE, that even though I made this small purchase in an airport, I may not carry it around any airport. I discovered that the bottle contained just a few milliliters of liquid over the carry-on limit, and I would need to exit the airport and check a bag containing my purchase before I could fly home. “follow the BLUE signs to the exit!” the guard told me. My dad and I, unable to explain ourselves to our travel companions (who all made it through security by this time), followed the blue signs to a dimly-lit bank of kiosks occupied by police (who paid us no attention), as well as a series of exit doors. Knowing we had to exit the airport to check my bag, we tried to open a door, to no avail. So I did the only logical thing at the time; I pushed a red button next to the door, and my dad and I proceeded to exit. “STOP! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” a German cop screamed over an alarm as he pulled us back inside.
Me: “We were told to follow the BLUE signs to exit.”
Cop: “NO! You were supposed to follow the GREEN signs!”
My dad verified that we were clearly told to follow the blue ones, but the cop retorted how no one told us to push the red button! After mumbling how we would be in severe trouble if they couldn't disable the alarm, the cop corralled us over to the kiosks, where other cops looked on as if nothing had happened.
New Cop: “how long will you be staying in Germany?”
Me: “About 20 minutes.”
After checking my bag and explaining our mishaps to our group, we made it home--cologne included.