Every time I fly, there is always one person in the airport
security line who doesn’t know what he/she is doing. There’s the, “What do you
mean I have to take my shoes off?” girl and the, “Since when do I have to take
out my laptop out of the bag” guy and, my personal favorite, the woman who
says, “But that moisturizer is $100 a bottle! What do you mean I have to throw
it out?!” Usually, I am the one stuck behind this person and get very irritated
at these ignorant and unobservant people and end up angry because their delay
means I have to choose between my pre-boarding bathroom break or getting coffee.
(You can guess which one wins.)
Well, the last time I flew, I was that person.
I usually don’t pack lightly, and when I fly Southwest, I
don’t really care. If I don’t have to pay a fee for a bag, who cares if I check
it? But, after all the times I’ve travelled with a large suitcase and then had
to battle on public transportation, I decided if I can fit it all into my
carry-on sized bag, I would do it. Then I thought about all the times I have a
panic attack at baggage claim because my bags aren’t the first out, and I
realized if I can fit in all in the carry-on, then why the bother checking it?
I went out and bought a few “TSA Approved” size bottles for
my shampoo and conditioner and came to terms with the fact I would have to use
whatever hairspray my cousin had at her place. I only brought the curling iron
instead of the usual hair dryer-flat iron-curling iron combo I typically take
with me everywhere. I cut down the amount of shoes from 6 pairs to just 3. I even pulled out all the liquids from my makeup bag and
put them into the one quart Ziploc baggie. I thought I was so prepared.
Until I went through security and they had to open my bag
because there were not only tweezers in my makeup bag but also scissors.
In all my careful planning, I hadn’t thought to take the
stupid fracking tweezers out of my makeup bag. I honestly had forgotten about
the little travel scissors that I stuck in my makeup bag a few months ago while
furiously cleaning my bathroom before a guest came over and realized how incredibly vain I am with all of my products and tools. I stood there, not arguing at all with
the TSA agents who are all looking at me like I’m crazy. I think most of the crazy
looks were not because I had forgotten to take out these “weapons” from my
bags, but because I wasn’t arguing. I was well aware that I had done and was
owning up to it. I even let them throw out my tweezers and scissors without
protest. The poor TSA didn’t know what to do with someone who was being
cooperative.
In the end, I got through security and made it to San
Francisco. Not, however, without a
few angry looks from the passengers who got stuck in security behind the dumb
girl who couldn’t remember that scissors and tweezers in a makeup bag makes you
a possible terrorist instead of just a high maintenance woman didn’t think to check her makeup
bag for heavy artillery. I did, however, make it in time for my pre-boarding
bathroom visit AND coffee.
