Winter Break Narrative

There was a knock at the door. It was my roommate from college. I was finally riding on an airplane for the first time in 11 years. I had finally saved up enough money to go to Hawaii this Winter.
The shuttle had arrived and we loaded our bags onto the van. I looked back at my apartment building, trying to remember if I forgot anything. Nothing came to mind. “When was the last time you rode on a plane?” I asked.
“Sometime last year,” she answered, “how ‘bout you?”
“It was awhile ago, I can barely remember it.”
***
It was during our Winter Break, and my parents were taking us to Europe and it would be the first time my sister and I would be riding on an airplane. We would usually drive up to Lake Tahoe, but our parents thought that we should see our origins in Europe. Seeing the snow was the best
We crossed the San Mateo Bridge, luckily there wasn't any traffic, it sometimes took a hour just to get across.
We approached the terminal door for our flight, and the exterior of the airport was decorated with Christmas lights. “Look at those lights it must have taken weeks for them to put those all up,” I said.
“The airport has a lot of workers, I'm sure it didn't take too long,” my mom replied.
We checked in our bags and made our way to security. There was a big man in a blue shirt wearing plastic gloves checking everyone’s I.D. and passports. “Why do we have to wait in such a long line?” I questioned.
“They want to make sure that our plane is safe,” my father replied. I had to put all of my things in the bins and they went through these scanners. One man had his bag pulled to the side, just because he had some water. I was amazed how strict they were