Miracle of miracles (given my job), I've managed to avoid the evils of the TSA for 10 months; the longest I've been able to avoid airline travel since 9/11.
No longer.
As I write this, I'm sitting in the boarding area waiting to board my flight to Minneapolis, for an offsite business meeting.
Of course I had the wonderful joy of being stuck in security for an hour, because the news announced the ban on liquids was lifted; but that doesn't take effect til tomorrow, only no-one actually paid attention to that part. The line of women clutching perfume and hair care products on thei way out of the security checkpoint...
Then, of course, I was given the full search and pat down. Me, the reddish haired, pale white guy with VISIBLE SERVICE TATOOS; yeah I'm a threat to national security.
Pray for me...
Update, 12:15am CDT: It was as pleasant a flight as is possible given a full flight, in coach, with no upgrades available and, oh yeah, the A/C on the plane was broken.
Yes folks, the AC on the plane was broken. We had vent air, but it was uncooled, on a 96 degree day, in a metal tube with 100 people in it. Joy.
So I'm in my overpriced hotel (thankfully not payed for by me), having just eaten an overprice, and not very good steak (again, thankfully not paid for by me); and jsut loving the hell out of the joys of business travel.
Now I'm in Minneapolis (actually St. Louis Park, wherever the heck that is), and it's going to be 56 degrees with thunderstorms the next two days; of meetings I don't really need to be at.
The only reason I'm going, is because it's a team thing; and because I havent actually physically MET any members of my team, including my team lead, and my boss (hell, I've never even spoken to my boss, just been CC'd on emails. Gotta love gigantic companies eh. Theres only 4 people between me and the CEO of a company with 150,000 employees; I contorl millions of dollars worth of budget ever week (almost 2 million jsut on one project alone last week), and I've never even spoken to my boss.
And to think I used to do this twice a week for a living... man either I've goten soft, or this has gotten worse than I remember it, or both.
And of course, thursday night, it's back through the hands of the retards for the trip back to PHX.
I need to just buy a damn plane and fly myself everywhere. It's a 1400 mile flight, and it took me from 1:30 pm, 'til 7:30 pm PHX time to get through security and out of the airport.
A reasonably fast piston single, or light twin would get me here not much slower overall; and at $800 for the round trip, the cost wouldn't much different. Plus, I can't tell you how naked I feel with a pistol and a pocketknife.
If I were still flying 100k+ miles a year, I wouldn't hesitate for a second.
