I've been hearing a lot of news on the way passports are being handled lately. One of the biggest things that might affect you is actually traveling too frequently! Apparently people are having trouble getting into some countries if they have less than two blank pages in their passports. That wouldn't be a fun experience if you ask me, sitting at an airport and waiting for the embassy to pick you up and sort things out.
Another problem I've heard of just recently is the age of the passport and the time left before expiration. Passports that are showing a lot of wear and tear are under heavy scrutiny for fraud, and it might get you pulled out of line even if it's a simple scratch across the photo! If you're getting close to expiration remember that now you must have enough time to get back into the United States before it expires or you'll have big problems. I'd consider getting it renewed early rather than risk pushing fate. You never know how the weather is going to be the day you're trying to fly out.
8.17.2006
The Backscatter Machine! Naked you came and naked you shall return...
TSA Announces Plans to Test Backscatter Machines in Airports
Just when you thought air travel couldnt possibly get any more fun - lines, wands and pat downs, oh my! - the Transportation Security Administration announces plans to test backscatter machines in airports throughout the country later this year. The backscatter is an X-ray machine the size of a refrigerator that can see through your clothes, down to your birthday suit. It also can detect metal, plastic and organic materials hidden beneath your garments or between folds of skin.
Flying round trip? Naked you came and naked you shall return. Screeners will be able to tell if a traveler is packing heat or simply hot.
Count me among the first to demand to screen my screener. I hereby request someone who has significant vision impairment and does not shock easily.
Relax, the TSA says. Sorry fellas, relaxed and undergoing a virtual strip search are counterintuitive in my book.
Ah, but males will screen males and females will screen females. Privacy will be ensured. Sure it will, and the price of gas will return to 93 cents.
To qualm jitters, the TSA is hinting at an electronic fig leaf of sorts to cover the more, uh, sensitive areas of the images. Privacy aside, there is also the matter of what will happen to the captured images.
Last Christmas airport terminals were overflowing with mountains of bags and suitcases that had missed their flights. And now we are to believe the same people will be able to hold onto some small, but highly entertaining images. These images are bound to find their way to the break room, the Internet and the tabloids faster than a stewardess can say, Now boarding all children and small animals.
There is a name to remember in all of this. Susan Hallowell. She is the director of the TSA security laboratory who will forever be known as the woman who went first. Dressed in a dark skirt and blazer, Hallowell stepped into a backscatter for demonstration purposes and allowed the backscatter to do its thing.
She appeared on the monitor naked as a jaybird, except for the gun and a bomb she had hidden beneath her clothes. In the interest of national security, Hallowell allowed the image to be released to news outlets. One Web site referred to her as looking like Uncle Fester from The Addams Family.
To put it more gently, lets just say Hallowell resembled Over-50 Barbie with a really bad bloat. The backscatter is said to be the great leveler in that it makes everyone look naked and fat. (Will we be able to order 8x10s?)
If the pat down is no longer an option and the full-body scan becomes mandatory, its not me Ill be feeling sorry for when I step into the machine. The ones I pity are the screeners. How will they ever close their eyes and sleep at night?
Should this new X-ray technology thwart any would-be terrorists, the first phase of their punishment should be to sit in front of a backscatter monitor and watch the images passing by. Lets make it hurt them more than it hurts us.
Just when you thought air travel couldnt possibly get any more fun - lines, wands and pat downs, oh my! - the Transportation Security Administration announces plans to test backscatter machines in airports throughout the country later this year. The backscatter is an X-ray machine the size of a refrigerator that can see through your clothes, down to your birthday suit. It also can detect metal, plastic and organic materials hidden beneath your garments or between folds of skin.
Flying round trip? Naked you came and naked you shall return. Screeners will be able to tell if a traveler is packing heat or simply hot.
Count me among the first to demand to screen my screener. I hereby request someone who has significant vision impairment and does not shock easily.
Relax, the TSA says. Sorry fellas, relaxed and undergoing a virtual strip search are counterintuitive in my book.
Ah, but males will screen males and females will screen females. Privacy will be ensured. Sure it will, and the price of gas will return to 93 cents.
To qualm jitters, the TSA is hinting at an electronic fig leaf of sorts to cover the more, uh, sensitive areas of the images. Privacy aside, there is also the matter of what will happen to the captured images.
Last Christmas airport terminals were overflowing with mountains of bags and suitcases that had missed their flights. And now we are to believe the same people will be able to hold onto some small, but highly entertaining images. These images are bound to find their way to the break room, the Internet and the tabloids faster than a stewardess can say, Now boarding all children and small animals.
There is a name to remember in all of this. Susan Hallowell. She is the director of the TSA security laboratory who will forever be known as the woman who went first. Dressed in a dark skirt and blazer, Hallowell stepped into a backscatter for demonstration purposes and allowed the backscatter to do its thing.
She appeared on the monitor naked as a jaybird, except for the gun and a bomb she had hidden beneath her clothes. In the interest of national security, Hallowell allowed the image to be released to news outlets. One Web site referred to her as looking like Uncle Fester from The Addams Family.
To put it more gently, lets just say Hallowell resembled Over-50 Barbie with a really bad bloat. The backscatter is said to be the great leveler in that it makes everyone look naked and fat. (Will we be able to order 8x10s?)
If the pat down is no longer an option and the full-body scan becomes mandatory, its not me Ill be feeling sorry for when I step into the machine. The ones I pity are the screeners. How will they ever close their eyes and sleep at night?
Should this new X-ray technology thwart any would-be terrorists, the first phase of their punishment should be to sit in front of a backscatter monitor and watch the images passing by. Lets make it hurt them more than it hurts us.
8.12.2006
Our last day in Europe
Oct 30, 2004
As much as I hated to leave, we had to get back to the states for work and family. It was rather amusing when Jason's zipper broke as we traveled by double decker bus to the airport. Not much we could really do about it. Yet as much as it frustrated him, it was amusing enough to put me into a good mood despite him.
We had first class flights from Ireland to Atlanta, with an excellent steak dinner served midflight. Our tickets from Atlanta to home however, were coach, and miserable. By the time we arrived I was grateful to be off the plane.
I honestly wish I had more time in Europe. I'd like to spend at least a couple of weeks exploring the hidden places of Scotland and Ireland. But as it is, I'm really happy I was able to spend what time I had there.
Here's to the future, and the endless possibilities!
*cheers!*
As much as I hated to leave, we had to get back to the states for work and family. It was rather amusing when Jason's zipper broke as we traveled by double decker bus to the airport. Not much we could really do about it. Yet as much as it frustrated him, it was amusing enough to put me into a good mood despite him.
We had first class flights from Ireland to Atlanta, with an excellent steak dinner served midflight. Our tickets from Atlanta to home however, were coach, and miserable. By the time we arrived I was grateful to be off the plane.
I honestly wish I had more time in Europe. I'd like to spend at least a couple of weeks exploring the hidden places of Scotland and Ireland. But as it is, I'm really happy I was able to spend what time I had there.
Here's to the future, and the endless possibilities!
*cheers!*
Belfast Ireland to Dublin Ireland
Oct 29, 2004We woke up early, got showers and ate a quick breakfast before we dragged all our luggage to the bus station. I can't believe we didn't stay in Belfast, Ireland for more than just one night. If you ever get out to Ireland here's what I'd recommend: Trinity College, the National Museum, Christ Church cathedral (amazing if you like medieval style), St. Patrick's Cathedral (Johnathan Swift's old haunt) , the National Gallery and a pub crawl through Temple Bar. If you still have time try to get out to Dublin Castle and catch a tour of the Guinness Brewery!
We headed straight from Belfast to Dublin by bus, so we didn't even get a chance to stop at any of the little rural towns or villages along the way, which was a real bummer.
Dublin was beautiful, but there were still many buildings and streets showing scars from "the Troubles" of past years. The bar next door to our rooms in the Chelsea hostel was peppered with bullet holes from a tragic night when someone opened up a machine gun on the patrons.
We spent the rest of the day seeing as much of Dublin as we could cram into it, and had dinner at the Hairy Lemon Pub. I HIGHLY recommend their lamb stew, it was absolutely delicious, and very nicely priced within a traveler's budget! We stopped at the mall and some local shops for souvenirs, then back to the hostel for baths and bed.
Next: Our Last Day in Europe >>
Scotland to Ireland, Another Ferry Ride
Oct 28, 2004
We all woke up insanely stiff and sore, having only achieved brief naps, in a drafty car, on a rainy night, in the middle of nowhere. But the world didn't stop turning to give us a chance at recovery, the ferry was leaving 11 am and it was currently 8:45.
Having gone back and looked at some of the amazing things we missed, I can honestly tell you that if I had the whole trip to do over again, I'd have taken at least a week for each of the countries we visited. We really didn't get much opportunity to see all the things we wanted to, especially in Scotland and Ireland. We very much enjoyed our stay in France, but I think that was due to the amount of time we dedicated to that portion of our trip.
Jason claims that he'll never go back to the U.K. again, he's had his fill, but if I got the opportunity, I'd probably take it. Especially if I had time to tour the less frequented parts of Ireland, or some of the cemetaries of Scotland. My ancestors all came from those areas, and I'd love to do a little digging into it. To actually see some of the places where they lived and died.
As it was, Jason dropped us off at the Ferry port and drove the rental car to the airport to drop it off. NEVER EVER drop off a rental car without having someone in the rental agency inspect the car for you before you leave! They told Jason to just drop the keys in the box and later tried to blame him for damages done to the car that were not there when we left it. We spent hundreds of dollars in long distance phone calls fighting their claims, and we finally had to resort to just reversing all the charges on our credit card. It was a huge mess that could have been easily avoided by having them sign off the car in our presence.
The ferry ride from Scotland to Ireland was so stormy we had to stay down in the belly of the boat, and even then we watched the waves licking right at our windows. We arrived safely however, called a taxi, and were soon snuggling warm in our hotel beds in Belfast, Ireland. Later we made a brief outting to Wetherspoon pub, for great drinks and some time to laugh about our adventures, before we were back in our beds asleep.
Next: Belfast to Dublin Ireland >>
8.07.2006
Dalwhinnie Whiskey Distillery in the Highlands of Scotland
Oct 27, 2004We had to be up and out of the room early that morning, but we were able to grab some coffee, and thankfully my stomach was feeling much better.
We headed North to the Blair Castle, stopping along the way for pictures, and to drop off letters at a small post office. As it turned out we should have stayed to another course. Blair Castle is not the sort of place you can simply take photos of from your car. They have a gate fee that tourists must pay, on top of paid tours or paid activities that they offer.
Considering we'd only planned to make a brief stop there we decided against spending any time at the location, and instead headed far up into the Highlands of Scotland for a tour of the Dalwhinnie Scotch Whiskey distillery. That was much more interesting by far, considering we were getting a little burned out on the standard castle/museum/cathedral tours.
From Dalwhinnie we headed straight up to Loch Ness (what tour of Scotland doesn't include a few pictures of that infamous location?). We shot loads of pictures, toured the nearby shops and had lunch at a nice restaurant near the shoreline.
As it was getting dark we had to move quickly to get back into the car and race back south. The roads were terrifying at night, to say the least. On the map it looked nice and straight, but in reality it was insanely serpentine. To make it even more frightening, you would drive around a sharp corner and find out that the road narrowed to one and a half lanes instead of a two car roadway. At one point we were just entering one of those narrowed areas just as a large truck approached from the opposite direction.The truck was as wide as the narrow road just by itself, and if he hadn't slowed down to let us by he would have scraped us right off into the trees.
We were all exhausted from stress over the drive when we finally arrived in Glascow, only to find out that all the hotels were booked! We searched from Glascow to Troon to Prestwick and couldn't find anything available. Miserable and exhausted we gave up at the last hotel we were turned away from. They had an entire wedding party filling them up to the rafters, and we just didn't have the strength to go on. Moving the car into a discreet corner of their parking lot, we curled up in our seats and tried to get what little sleep we could. It was cold, cramped and miserable.
Next: Scotland to Ireland >>
London, England to Perth, Scotland
Oct 26, 2004
Unfortunately for me, I woke up in the middle of the night with such extreme pain in my stomach I thought I might have burst an appendix. I crawled miserably out of bed after a few seconds of rolling around in pain and spent the next half hour trying to piss hot sand. Apparently, with all the excitement, I had failed to drink enough water and my body was working on some kidney stones. I limped back to bed feeling rather like a badly beaten dog, but took a prescription pain killer and managed to get a few more hours sleep before we had to be up.
When we officially woke up that morning we had time only for a quick breakfast before packing our bags and retrieving the rental car from what the attendent insisted on calling a "whirly-park". I admit, it was rather fascinating to watch the car spin down from the upper floors on the lift.
The attendent kept asking us if we'd paid our taxes, which we thought odd at the time, and we assured him we were consistent tax payers. He gave us strange looks and asked again, which made us wonder a little about him, but we assured him we had already paid our taxes.
It turns out we hadn't. In the U.K. they charge what is considered a congestion tax, which I presume helps finance lots like the "whirly-park" and keeps cars off the streets. We had no idea what the fellow was talking about at the time, but we figured it out after we'd returned to the States and received a hefty fine and ticket in the Post only days later.
After hours of driving around the lower portion of Scotland we at last found the hotel we'd reserved. I was in misery by this time, as the painkiller had worn off, so I was eager to head straight to bed. My companions didn't hesitate in following me. A full day crammed into a compact car will wear you out pretty fast!
Next: Dalwhinnie Whiskey Distillery >>
London, England "City of Contrast"
Dignity airbrushed over dry humor
There is a tipsy turvy humor behind their royal airs
A playful splash of color to their timeless city
Beauty, strength and artistic angles
Pleasantly combined with ridiculous colors and detail
Gaudy uniforms on stoic somber guards
Playful names on noble, ageless buildings
Awkward double buses, versus classic century taxis
Quiet silly humor lurks everywhere
The whole city seems barely able to hide a grin
Just behind this exquisite cathedral
Surely a nun must be smiling
Just behind this grandois tower
There must be a 'Bobby' laughing
Just behind this majestic palace
A queen's eyes must be twinkling...
- Taliahad 10/26/2004
Unfortunately for me, I woke up in the middle of the night with such extreme pain in my stomach I thought I might have burst an appendix. I crawled miserably out of bed after a few seconds of rolling around in pain and spent the next half hour trying to piss hot sand. Apparently, with all the excitement, I had failed to drink enough water and my body was working on some kidney stones. I limped back to bed feeling rather like a badly beaten dog, but took a prescription pain killer and managed to get a few more hours sleep before we had to be up.
When we officially woke up that morning we had time only for a quick breakfast before packing our bags and retrieving the rental car from what the attendent insisted on calling a "whirly-park". I admit, it was rather fascinating to watch the car spin down from the upper floors on the lift.
The attendent kept asking us if we'd paid our taxes, which we thought odd at the time, and we assured him we were consistent tax payers. He gave us strange looks and asked again, which made us wonder a little about him, but we assured him we had already paid our taxes.
It turns out we hadn't. In the U.K. they charge what is considered a congestion tax, which I presume helps finance lots like the "whirly-park" and keeps cars off the streets. We had no idea what the fellow was talking about at the time, but we figured it out after we'd returned to the States and received a hefty fine and ticket in the Post only days later.
After hours of driving around the lower portion of Scotland we at last found the hotel we'd reserved. I was in misery by this time, as the painkiller had worn off, so I was eager to head straight to bed. My companions didn't hesitate in following me. A full day crammed into a compact car will wear you out pretty fast!
Next: Dalwhinnie Whiskey Distillery >>
London, England "City of Contrast"
Dignity airbrushed over dry humor
There is a tipsy turvy humor behind their royal airs
A playful splash of color to their timeless city
Beauty, strength and artistic angles
Pleasantly combined with ridiculous colors and detail
Gaudy uniforms on stoic somber guards
Playful names on noble, ageless buildings
Awkward double buses, versus classic century taxis
Quiet silly humor lurks everywhere
The whole city seems barely able to hide a grin
Just behind this exquisite cathedral
Surely a nun must be smiling
Just behind this grandois tower
There must be a 'Bobby' laughing
Just behind this majestic palace
A queen's eyes must be twinkling...
- Taliahad 10/26/2004
Buchingham Palace and the British Museums
Oct 25, 2004We didn't have a place to park our rental car the night before, but a nice chap on the stree told us we could park it at the curb so long as it was moved before the parking meter police came out at about 8 am. We took the fellow at his word and left the car on the curb.
The next morning we were awed to look out the window at 8 am and actually watch what looked like a sea of police cars, footmen, motorcyles, etc coming straight at us. Jason and Nate bolted for the door as fast as they could while Robyn and I stood at the window to see whether they'd win this rather dubious race.
It did rather look for a minute like they might get stopped, even after they'd started the car and put their blinker on to pull away from the curb, but thankfully the police didn't press the matter.
Robyn and I headed off on foot to the Post Service while we waited for the men to find a safer parking stall and return to our sides. We shopped a few more postcards while we were out and spent the next hour or so waiting in our room. On their return we all headed out to see a few more famous locations.
Our first stop was, of course, Buchingham Palace and the Royal Mews. Then off to the Underground subways so we could get across the city to the British and National Museums. Robyn and I were terribly excited about seeing so many of the great master's works up close. Robyn in particular is an art student herself.
Back into the Underground again and on our way to the Tower of London and the London Bridge. It was getting dark by this time, but the Bridge was all lit up and beautiful! We walked through the tower yard by the river and slowly made our way back up to the Underground and the hotel to sleep.
Next: England to Scotland >>
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