I assure you that my tone wasn't the least bit antagonistic. As you say - it was an embarrassing moment and I felt like an idiot. So you can take that for what it's worth. I only became angry after repeated misinformation and a general apathetic attitude.

As for the 5am. That's what we were told. We were told that she had gone to the embassy for something in the past and had gotten there at 5 to be at the front of the line. We knew the earliest flight out wasn't until 7 but the thought was to get there as early as possible.

Obviously it is easy for you and I to do our yahoo searches sitting in the Starbucks with your WiFi connection - but we were told that the office was locked for the night and they couldn't get internet connection. No exceptions. And the next morning we just left assuming that the information we were given was accurate. More naivete I suppose.