I recently took a trip to Arkansas. The trip was very brief. We flew out mid-morning on Tuesday and arrived back into Birmingham late Wednesday evening. Just a few quick oberservations:
- The pilot who flew us into Dallas/Fort Worth was amazing. When we landed, I hardly even knew we had touched the ground.
- Looking down on a lightning-packed thunderstorm from 38,000 feet is simply awe-inspiring.
- Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is insanely huge, yet it never seemed very busy. In contrast, Atlanta is huge, yet their airport is always absolutely jammed. I guess everything really does have to be bigger in Texas.
- The TSA and their policies are as ridiculous as the late-night comedians make them out to be. I felt no safer after seeing people have their bottled water, toothpaste and hairspray confiscated while the TSA people try to figure out if the X-ray machine is “actually working right“. Yes, I really heard that exact quote. If someone is determined to take down a plane, I have zero confidence that these guys are up the task of preventing it. We’d be much better off just issuing box cutters to every passenger, so that if there are terrorists on the plane, at least we’d all have them and it’d be like 250 to 4.
- Steve Jobs rules the world. Seriously, I must have seen 1,000 iPods in the airports and on the planes. Not a single Zune or anything else.
- Air travelers overwhelmingly prefer Dell laptops to other brands. This is a proven fact as revealed by my completely scientific study that consisted of me occasionally looking around.
- It stinks that they don’t offer peanuts on flights anymore. What if I were allergic to uncomfortable seats or little bags of odd off-brand chex mix? Would they get rid of all those, too?
- A $3 personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut will cost you $7.50 at the airport, but it’s still a better value than those vacuum-sealed “sandwiches” they offer.
- A 5-lb. hamburger is massive.
- Fried pickles are good.
Stand up to the TSA.
Empty your little plastic baggie after going through security, and then leave it in a convenient place for them to find.
If you’re really mad, leave a note on your baggie!!!! (not that i would ever do this)
Ashley
June 23rd, 2007
Man, I take everything off while I am waiting in line. And then I take out the Macbook and lay it on top of my laptop bag and watch them treat it with such respect as it heads down bumping over the rollers. Then, after going through security, it takes me 10-15 minutes to get dressed again. I have got to get some pants that don’t require a belt and some slip on shoes to travel in.
Philip
June 27th, 2007
By the way, I just got back from Fallas and the Airport is nice. I love the view of downtown as you are approaching the aiport. The city looks like a huge metropolis island in the middle of the desert from that high up.
Philip
June 27th, 2007
I meant Dallas
Philip
June 27th, 2007
How dare you challenge such a capable government agency. I felt so safe when I was walking through the line, barefoot, holding up my pants, and handing over my 1-quart bag of neatly arranged 3-qt bottles…At every security check point I just rolled up my sleeves, gave a quick kiss to my bicep and said, “Fit these in 1 qt. bag.” I know they were really impressed because they stripped searched me every time.
Jordan
June 27th, 2007