Recently I read a Blog listing tips for traveling successfully. Being a pilot’s wife, one would think I had traveling down to a science. No I don’t, but I believe my pilot husband does! Funny how people assume the spouse knows the details of the occupation held by their partner. When I travel, I typically travel for leisure which involves traveling with children … alone!
The first tip: Enjoy the journey to the destination as much as you will enjoy the destination itself.
This author apparently is not traveling with kids! Packing games, books, computers, iPods, Game Boys, DS’s, the list goes on … trying to occupy and help distract them from the fact they are sitting, touching one another, in a closed “container” for hours and hours. “You are in my space” will come out, not like adults, kids do not hold back! If the plane happens to have the TV built into the seat in front of them – I just want to say sorry in advance to the poor souls sitting in that seat - the games are touch screen, need I say more? But the plane ride is not the most stressful part of the journey. It is in-fact passing through SECURITY.
Problem #1 Security insists that everyone hold their own boarding pass. The likely hood getting through the whole security process and the child still possessing his or her boarding pass is simply mind blowing.
Problem #2 A parent’s eyes must travel from one kid to the next, keeping our possessions guarded, and taking shoes off, grabbing enough bins for shoes, computers, games and junk while the people behind start grabbing bins and start trying to pass us, while frustrations sets in. Scrambling to find the little bag of “liquids” and place it in the bin. If you fail to do this you might be “stripped searched” on the other side!
Problem #3 To add this to the mix; one of my children has a Medtronic Reveal “device” in his chest. OK first never, EVER call it a device in an airport! He must hold his Medtronic Card along with his boarding pass and enter a whole new line by himself. While I can see, but cannot hear, the security guards talking to him, they point to the back of our line and try to dismiss him. He holds his Pacemaker card up higher and then he receives strange looks as they finally read the card and take him past the line of scanners and continue to the area for a complete search.
Problem #4 This is the point where timing is everything. The plan is to get through the metal detector scanners at the same time my son does with his “Pacemaker”. I don’t like one of my children, being frisked and patted down while I am preoccupied with rustling two other children, our stuff, shoes, boarding passes and then repacking back packs. My eyes continue traveling from each child, now in two locations. TSI people questioning computers, lotion baggies, location of boarding passes and they want to see my ID again! While hearing, “Mom, he just cut. Mom they are cutting line. Mommmmm”
Problem #5 The lacking of total patience, may cause extra attention. Now that I must look like I want to slap the Security person, they decide to hand search our bags. Directing us over to another table, we now have items spread all over like a yard sale; while continuing to gather shoes, computers, baggies, cell phones, back packs and yelling instructions to the kids. Now the questions come from the TSA man that I just can’t believe: “Why do you have two computers, an extra backpack and two baggies of ‘liquids’?” Annoyed I snapped, “YOU have my third child, pointing over my shoulder, I have his things!”
Problem #6 This process took so many security guards away from their command post … my question would be: Did that cause or permit a “bad guy” to pass by security?
Lately I traveled alone for the first time in … oh maybe 21 years. I have to agree that I tried to enjoy the journey to my destination as much as I could. Even though I hate sitting for fourteen hours, I met some really neat people, read, listened to uninterrupted music, watched a movie and took a cat nap or two, taking advantage of my time alone. Besides my butt being incredibly sore the journey was, I guess I could say, enjoyable. Passing security was certainly a breeze childless. However, while going through the process I was able to observe some very interesting procedures. Because the fact that my husband is a pilot I couldn’t help but notice the airline pilots being scanned by security. They were showing their badges, bags being inspected and even opened then searched. What could the pilots be carrying or sneaking on the plane? What struck me is when I noticed one of the captains being searched. He was padded down and then the security guard used his wand and waved it over every inch of his body. As the pilot held out his arms I noticed he was packing. So really, what was the security guard looking for if the pilot was carrying a gun? Would a wand really find something worse than a gun? Will they take his razor away if they find one in his bag? A pilot – they are tested, licensed, certified, researched – but what do I know, I’m just the wife of one! However, my common sense was still fighting with this patting down and wand search of this captain which he is obviously licensed to carry a gun. In my opinion wasn’t his biggest weapon, the actual plane itself? Wondering what TSA’s guidelines could possibly say that they needed to wand a certified licensed pilot carrying a registered gun?
Next Tip – Leave your “comfort” Zone at home …
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