Travel. Uggh.

Ok, so I'm a bit of a homebody.  And apparently I haven't flown in a while.  I did notice some strange things while on our trip to Ohio.

First, I seriously think security is just a little bit overdone.  Lets put this in perspective.

Every day in the US, there are about 134 carjackings.  There are 255,917,664 cars in the US (US Census Bureau information).  That equates to 1 carjacking per day per 1.9 million cars or so.  That's horrible, but.... as statistics go, you're nearly as likely to win a lottery of some sort as to get carjacked.  Comforting thought, right?

Now, cars are allowed on the road with very little "checks", meaning, how does anyone really know what is in that car?  As in, dangerous, or could be dangerous type items?  Getting my meaning?  How do you know that car next to you or behind you in traffic isn't up to something sinister?  How does anyone know?

Now on to planes.

In any given year in the US, there are approximately 9,971,000 airline flights.  Whoah!

Now, airlines have been operating for about 97 years, ever since Tony Jannus's flight January 1, 1914 for the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat line.  The first airline hijacking happened in 1939.  Worldwide from 1948 to 1957 there were 15 hijackings.  Today, the average number per year is 18 worldwide.  In the US, between 1950 and today, there have been 75.

See where this is going?

On any given day, your odds of carjacking are 1 in 1.9 million in the US.  Whereas your odds of an airline hijacking are 1 in 8.1 million on any given day in the US.  That means you are more than 4 times more likely to get carjacked.  Yet.....

Security...... O M G !!

Its a bit ridiculous.  Nevermind demeaning, silly, grossly overdone and just.... well, at times, dumb.

For instance:  We had a tube of toothpaste in our bag, and were forced to throw it away right there before we could board the plane.  Now, that alone is silly, but.... if it were truly dangerous, why put it in a trash receptacle with hundreds of people around?  Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?

Here's another good example:  Did you know nail clippers can be a deadly weapon?  Seriously, you can't bring them on a plane?  Who knew hangnails were so bad?  Yet... we ate dinner at a restaurant and  rolled up in a napkin, was this:

That would be a quick shot of a PLASTIC knife and a METAL fork.  Now, I'm pretty sure even a plastic knife is a bit more dangerous than nail clippers, but I am quite positive a metal fork is.  It's silly.... just silly.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that security is necessary, but.... I think its gone a bit overboard.  When I went throught the full body scanner thingy, it beeped and the TSA agent said I must have something on the top of my head.  Now.... my hair is short, as in maybe a half inch long on top of my head.  I wasn't wearing a hat either.  So I lowered my head to show him and his response, "Says there's something there, but, go ahead anyway."  Wow.... what a truly reliable system they have.

Oh!  Get this!  I had to throw away toothpaste, but I have heard from two independant sources within the last two weeks of people who (mistakenly and innocently) went right through security with, believe it or not, FULL SIZED SCISSORS!  Yet.... nail clippers are forbidden.

Funny world we live in.

But wait!  There's more!

People are weird.  You knew that though, didn't you?

Here's what I mean.  Why is it that if a person has to wait even 5 minutes at an airport or on a plane, they can't seem to survive without doing something?  Lets face it, waiting is a fact of life.  The busier our lives get the more time we spend waiting for others, normally in lines.  Yet, most times, its no big deal.  A few minutes here, and there, its all part of the daily grind.  Yet, put those same people on an airplane and the second their butt hits the all-too-small seat, they're scrambling for their Cell Phone, iPad, or any of a myriad of electronic devices, like a crack junky looking for their pipe.  Weird huh?

Also, apparently there are a lot of "special" people in the world.  You know, people who operate beyond the rules?  As if they don't apply to them?  I got to sit across the aisle from one of these people last night.  She sat in her seat playing solitaire on her ipad, furiously at that, as if trying to get in as many moves as possible before the plane took off.  I thought it was funny actually.  Then, right after we were all told to put all electronic devices to the "off" position, she decided that was the perfect time to make a couple phone calls.  Yep, a real winner of a human being.  I guess she's special.  She was told no less than three times during our flight to shut off her devices, each time, she acted as if she had no idea.  Then, upon landing, I think in perfect synchronicity with the Captain turning off the "fasten seatbelt" sign, she stands, proceeds to pull out her two, not one, but two, larger than acceptable carry-ons and places them in the aisle, blocking everyone around her, and stands there.  She actually leaned on the seat in front of me displaying her umm, posterior slightly too close to my face, as I was still seated.  Not that I had a choice, Miss Special took up all the space.  Then she whips out her cell phone and begins making calls.  Notice I didn't say she turned it on, I don't think it was ever put in the "off position".

Off position?  My iPhone doesn't have one.  Most people just say "turn it off", weird, but.... whatever.

Also, when we were landing, they actually said you could use a cell phone, but not a laptop.  Huh?  No idea what that's about.

By the way, here's another conundrum (love that word) for you.  We're not allowed to use cell phones and other electronic devices on planes for fear that their pathetic little signal might interfere with the plane's heavy duty instruments and cause a crash.  Seriously, that's why.  I looked it up.

I'm a biiiig Mythbusters fan.  They busted this every which way they could.  No way, nuh uh, not gonna happen.  Yet, we still can't use them on planes.

Whoah!  Wait a minute!  Nail clippers are a matter of utmost security on the off chance that you are a sociopath crazed suicidal killer looking to blow up the plane, which I would think is actually a rather small number of nail clipper carriers.  Yet, innocently using a cell phone could crash the plane?  And they let us keep them?  And EVERYONE has one?  Does TSA know about this?  I mean, this is a matter of National Security I think!

Come on, its silly..... just silly.

Next time.... I'll drive.

-B