“Good mornin mah brotha.”
“Good morning, how are ya?” I reply, way too suburban like, taken a bit by surprise by this getto fabulous first interation of the day.
“Where you be flyin?”
Yup, no doubt about it.
This is definitely New York La Guardia airport.
“San Salvador” I say, in a thicker latino accent than I should have. I just can’t help myself. I love doing the accent.
He gives me a look like ‘crack is wack man’ and says, “Cool, cool. Well you got a return flight or something?”
“Nope. I’m going to travel to Guatemala next, and after that I’m not sure.”
“Whoa, dats cool. But umm, you gotta give me something. A flight, a bus, anything showing your gonna leave. I can’t check you in without it”
“Really?” I can’t quite believe it. “I’ve done this flight 4 times before and was never asked for proof of onward travel before.”
“Yea, we need sumthin brotha.”
“Ok, ok, no worries,” I say while walking away.
Long story short I ended up booking a shuttle bus ticket on Gekko Trails Explorer. But instead of paying for it, I simply made a reservation. I showed it to him on my phone and he checked me in.
When I finally arrived at San Salvador airport, the immigration officer couldn’t have cared less whether I had a ticket booked out of El Salvador or not. All he wanted was his 10$ visa fee, which I’m pretty sure is greasing his pockets.
Man, I hate the onward travel thing … stupid bureaucracy!
Seriously, I can’t stand it.