I had my first experience with a full body scan while traveling through Gainesville this week. I had just spent 10 very pleasant days with my family. Unfortunately, on the way back security sent everyone through the full body scanner and for whatever reason all of these spots showed up as suspicious on me, so I got a free grope. Actually, grope is an understatement. Essentially I had to stand there while someone felt each and every part of my body. It was awful.
I was not in the least rude to the woman who searched me. I understand it wasn’t personal and she was just doing her job. That said, I think the look of disgust I wore on my face unnerved her a bit. Whether I disagree with the scanners and the groping is beside the point, I generally expect a few dates and a dinner before someone touches me so intimately. The look of disgust was natural, I didn’t even realize it was there until she looked at me and I realized she was upset.
And by the way, no, I don’t think we all need to be treated like criminals to keep us safe. I have no idea why the scanner showed so many places on my body, I had nothing odd on me, no metal, just a shirt, pair of pants and the usual underthings a woman wears. I shouldn’t have had to go through a pat down like that, and if the technology works so poorly that it activated on me, it needs to be fixed.
I also observed an elderly gentleman, who was in a wheelchair. They made him get up and walk through the photo scanner. Then they made him go through the metal scanner. Then, because it beeped they made him go through a pat down. Why didn’t they just do the pat down in the first place and save him some time? Watching him hobble around was painful.
Anyway, now that I got the venting out of the way, let me spend a few moments on the issue of packing in this new, charge for breathing by the airline, age.
Packing your bags
I think people have tried to avoid checking bags for years, due to a fear of lost luggage. Now we avoid checking our bags due to a fear of lost luggage and also because we don’t want to be charged to check them. Really, I don’t feel I should have to pay for the pleasure of losing my bags, how about you? Also, I don’t really like carrying heavy luggage around. I’m only 5′ tall and so it can be a bit overwhelming for me.
I was gone for 10 days, which means a substantial amount of clothing and other items. I decided the best thing to do would be to pack for 5 days and wash my clothing there. I also decided to just purchase my toiletries in Gainesville.
Clothing
In terms of my clothing, I used the roll method, and so was able to fit my 5 days of clothes (with extra socks and underthings) in my duffle bag. The roll method works like this:
- Take all of 1 type of clothing (i.e. all of your pants.
- Stagger the items. This means for the first pair arrange the waistband so it is pointing up and for the second pair arrange the waistband so it is pointing down. This means cuffs of pants against waistband of pants.
- Once all of the pants are piled, simply roll them up. Do it as tightly as you can.
- Repeat for your shirts. For shirts with sleeves fold them across the chest.
- Once you do this you have a neat roll of your clothes, they generally won’t wrinkle, and they won’t take up nearly as much space as folded clothing.
- You can normally fit two good-sized rolls in a carry-on sized duffle bag.
- Put your underthings and socks in wherever you have space.
You might think since I went to Florida I just packed a lot of shorts and t-shirts, but Gainesville actually gets chilly so that wasn’t the case. I did, however stay away from shirts with collars because they take up more space.
Ladies, limit your shoes. I brought two pairs; sneakers and sandals. That was all I needed for my trip. Think about your outfits ahead of time, and try to pick clothing that won’t require a lot of shoes. It saves a lot of headaches, or rather backaches.
For my extra bag I used a small knapsack. In there I put all of my medicines, kindle, netbook, etc.
Toiletries
I picked up my toiletries at a local drug store. Had I purchased the tiny little bottles you can take with you, I would have paid a premium and wouldn’t have had enough. Also, I would have had to lay them out on the conveyer belt, which takes more time. Had I packed enough toiletries for the trip I would have had to check my luggage. So buying new was the easiest way to go. I left the extra with my family, so no waste.
Traveling home
I have never been a big souvenir person. I got magnets at each location I visited. I also didn’t do any shopping. As a result I didn’t have much extra to take home. But still, I decided I would ship home some of my stuff. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a label online from the post office for one of its priority boxes. I was able to fit about half of my clothing in the large priority box. It cost about $15 to ship home and should arrive in a couple of days. This lightened my bag considerably and still cost less than checking. It also meant I didn’t have to deal with the weight of the clothing which I appreciated. If you print the label online you can arrange for a pickup or drop it off at the post office. There will be a box so you don’t need to wait in line. You can actually have the boxes delivered to wherever you are staying ahead of time.
So there you go. Feel free to ignore the complaining about being felt up and focus on the actual useful advice. Or feel free to nod your head in solidarity, or shake it at me for being naive. Your call.
Either way, I hope you had a great holiday.