Summer has set in, and folks are traveling. Some within the country and some outside it.
However, since the last two years, a large number of restrictions have been placed ,on what you can carry and what you cannot carry, in your cabin baggage, in particular.
Here are some hints for having hassle free holidays.
Check in early
Gone are the days, when you kind of rushed in balancing your hand baggage just as they were about to deactivate the tunnel leading to the plane. Today, the key words are baggage and security. It can take you as much as an hour, just getting through security, before you can go sit outside the prescribed gate number.
You kind of line up in queues that move slowly under signs that say "Passengers ONLY beyond this point". Kind of reduces the possibility of traumatic goodbyes. The first things they ask you to do is to remove your shoes, keys,wallets etc and place them in a tray. Then you are asked to remove any digital cameras , laptops etc that you may have , and these are placed in another tray. Finally, you place your cabin baggage, in some more trays. (Some tray manufacturer in the US, or should it be China, has probably minted a fortune...)
Women are asked to separate their make up stuff and put it in Ziploc bags . The same goes for water bottles. The Ziploc bag is put in one of the aforementioned trays for x-ray perusal.
All these trays then pass through an X-ray /Infrared type check, across a conveyor belt that kind of passes through a tunnel, so to speak. A trained security officer observes all your belongings with a trained eye, ignoring your clumsy packing technique, and may ask you to open up any piece of luggage , to check what is actually there. They don't actually see the detailed item. Its kind of what you see in a weather report satellite picture; certain areas filled with shapes of certain colors, which indicate something to the officers.
In the meanwhile, you are asked to pass through , what I call a security doorway, which beeps to indicate the presence of something that, shouldn't be there.
I had an Asian Lady on my flight wearing her traditional jewelery, which set off, an almighty beep. They asked her to remove the stuff for checking, and she said that she could not, as per their custom. Sometimes, some of these jewelery items are worn at the time of marriage and never removed, they being a sign of matrimony and family status.
At this point, as a whole bunch of young, old, elderly and fashionable types shuffle along in bare feet, waiting to get to the other side of the tunnel, you hear a booming voice saying "female assistance required !", which results in the Asian lady being asked to stand on some pre-marked sign, and then she is examined by a lady security officer. (This happens on a sort of center stage , affording some entertainment to the waiting passengers, who pass you on either side. ).
Then starts what can only be described as a ballet.
First you hold your arms out, palms upwards, and they move a probe all across you, under your armpits , back and front. A beep elicits a quick look, then a look of relief as they sight your necklace.
You then repeat the thing with palms down.
They then have you stand with each foot forward in turn, and the probe is moved between your legs , below your waist, and at the back of your legs.
I actually saw this happen to an entire family of women, and although they took it very sportingly and co-operated well, I actually asked the officer lady if it wasn't too strenuous doing this , every so many minutes.
It was almost like a cooperative dance effort; the passengers took the positions and the steps, and the officer lady did the ballet, gracefully bending and turning and twirling around the passenger. Several times an hour.
You finally emerge victorious, but semi frustrated on the other side, amongst a bunch of passengers all trying to put on their shoes, and repack their non-objectionable belongings.
This entire process can take as much as a one hour wait, as the flight time approaches, and passenger crowd increases. A friend of mine missed her flight just standing in line for her turn at security. Checking in early guarantees that you make your flight.
Avoid large tubes of stuff
Taking big tubes of sunscreen and moisture lotions in your carry-on baggage is a bad idea. Anything up to 100 mls is supposed to be OK. Anything bigger than that, might see you , offering all those Bath and Body Works goodies, as it were, to the nation. Large toothpastes are out. Someone I know was carrying ready made lemon juice in a small container the shape of a lemon, like you get in the grocery store. The idea was to ask for cold water and make your own sugar free lemon drink during the flight. The quantity of this thing was just 100 mls, within rules; but it had to be thrown away as the security folks got a bit unnerved and objected.
If you are carrying any medication , in either tube form or any other form, you need to carry with you, at all times, a doctor's recent prescription, in original.
If you think the three hour flight is going to give you a good opportunity to do your nails, think again. Nail Clippers, Nail files, scissors etc, are declared a national security threat , and must be checked in with the other baggage.
I traveled back recently from Singapore, and before boarding, was singled out in security and asked to open the toilet case where I had a tiny nail clipper. Actually, it is always in that bag, and I had forgotten all about it.
So they had 3 people, 2 guys and a lady examining my nail clippers, then I was directed to a desk where they did a form in triplicate , with details about my boarding pass,seat, destination , and other luggage tags. I was then given a copy and told to collect the nail clipper with my other checked-in baggage at San Francisco.
That was the last I saw of the nail clipper.
I certainly did not scrounge around for it amongst all kinds of alarming luggage as it circled around on the conveyor belt, on arrival, at San Francisco.
Who knows? The site of a guy, lifting other peoples bags here and there, moving aside luggage belts and sticking is hand under duffel bags in his quest for the eternal nail clipper, would have probably triggered another security check.
