Thursday, January 12, 2006

I think I screwed myself

by changing my airline ticket at the last minute. Now I can't print my boarding pass online. Great, just great. Haven't airlines heard of business travelers? Or a normal change in plans? If you check my history, all my flights on this airline have been to/from the same airports. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? If I provide proof of why I'm visiting that city over and over again, will that help?

If I end up on the terrorist watch list, should I stop traveling? (That's a rhetorical question, thankyouverymuch.) Traveling is hassle enough as is. If it gets any worse, I'm not sure I can handle the stress.

I flew a few weeks after 9-11. That was one of the scariest things I've done. Have you ever seen LAX deserted? It was so eerie riding in the van to the airport. There wasn't any traffic. There was a police car parked at the on-ramp. The terminals, which are normally teeming with people, crowded with honking cars, and filled with general chaos, were quiet. QUIET at LAX? It was a huge shock. Then I saw the armed military...with big guns. I don't know what kind, but they were big, in sight, not hidden. Big guns. Did I mention the big guns? Did I mention how nervous everyone in the airport looked?

This was the start of my hating to fly. I used to love to fly. Now, never knowing how long the security lines are, not being able to carry my handy dandy Swiss army knife, having to check my bag because I'm carrying scissors all make traveling not fun.

Once, I accidentally carried a pair of decorative scissors (for scrapbooking) in my carry-on. I'm sure that my look of embarrassment/horror at being singled out of line helped convince TSA that I was not a terrorist. The TSA agent showed the scissors to his supervisor and I was allowed to keep them. Whew, I really didn't want to have to buy another pair of scissor. (They are deckle-edged scissors for all you SB snobs who are sneering at me right now.)

Anyway, back to original problem...I'll see what happens and blog about it when I get back.

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