Baggage check

I’ll be headed to Florida by the time you read this column. Although it would be most ideal to plan a trip south when cold has set in months from now, July 14 marks the 100th birthday of our dear friend, Sylvia Smith. The tumultuous event, celebrated at her assisted living faciliity, includes family and friends. My dad is venturing to join in, flying alone from Ohio at 84. We plan to join him a few days after the celebration and surround Sylvia with our hugs and, hopefully not too sloppy, kisses.

I’m no big-time traveler, and when I have ventured off for any length of time in recent years, it’s been as a passenger in my dad’s motor home. Planning a flight with my family is a new experience. Security checks before boarding are a particular concern since we don’t know what to expect.

I was especially interested in the Cruising Through Airport Security story we ran recently.

Thankfully my mended ankle won’t set off detectors since my hardware was removed, but I often wear jewelry, usually earrings, and I always carry a nail file and clippers in my cosmetic bag. Sounds like we’d better put any things like that in a plastic baggy for easy surveilance till we’re cleared.

Although promoting safety in today’s world is no laughing matter, I couldn’t help but chuckle at a list we didn’t print of personal items and where to pack them. Things to note among the fingernail tools and eyelash curlers, safety razors and cigar cutters, which can all be packed in either carry-on or checked baggage, are lighters, which can only travel as a carry-on because of pressurizaton, and sharp objects – scissors, ice picks, meat cleavers, and swords, which can not be carried on but must travel in checked bags (chefs and fencing instructors take note). Sabers and spear guns also classify as checked baggage as with all sporting goods. Tools (including power drills and portable saws) for the

traveling maintenance or handy man must also be checked, including crowbars, axes, and cattle prods. (All of these are truly on this most thorough list.)

Heaven help us when highjackers discover that Norm Abram’s Yankee Workshop is en route to film an episode in Texas on the same stopover flight that seven logging brothers take from Seattle to the cow rustlers’ convention where all plan to be contestants to build the most perfectly designed wooden starting gate.