Packing

Packing for air travel is just not something that you can always plan for. I often like to bring a guitar along, or a bag full of camera gear, and the subjectivity of those who decide whether they can go carry on or be checked is something that never fails to amaze. Today, for example, is a good day. They let me check this monstrosity:

How can you make maps without a Longboard?

An overweight backpack with a longboard strapped to its front. Really? I was expecting to have to shell out $100 for this one. Hopefully nobody from my beloved airline is reading this.

I also was allowed to bring a 60 pound camera bag and full-sized dreadnought guitar onto the aircraft. Once they've let you through with all of this stuff, there is a wonderful unspoken Grandfather Law that allows you to board connections without having to pay to check, 

but that only applies to that day's travel...

This past february, I was able to board with the same configuration flying one way, but had to check the guitar on the return trip, despite the fact that it had gate check credentials attached to it from travel two days before. 

It makes me want to create funny acronyms for TSA:

The

Subjectivity

Authority

Totally

Subjective

Association

There are more, but I have 16 hours of flights to ponder this. Also, just so that my name doesn't get put on some watch list, I actually think that the TSA do a really good job.