Heatherow has got to be one of the world's worst places to change planes.  From the gates, you have to go through security and into the departure lounge.  Connecting flight leaving in ten minutes from the next gate? You'll never make it, you have to go through security and through the departure lounge. Go to the gate and find your flight delayed? Back through security and back to the departure lounge. What am I missing here? Didn't they search me pretty thoroughly in San Francisco? Do they think I spent the time on that transatlantic flight building a napalm bomb with little tiny soap bars from the bathroom and lighter fluid out of my Zippo?

Thirty minutes to Amsterdam, where immigration doesn't ask me a single question. They glance briefly at my passport picture and at me, and stamp the passport.  Then there's baggage claim and what the Dutch call customs. One bored looking guard glancing at everyone going by. Aren't they afraid I'll try and smuggle some dope into their country?