Jul 30 2008
Mobile Gadgets - Airport Searches
2008-07-30 20:23:02
Keeping up with your mobile gadgets on a day to day basis is not always easy. Keeping track of those same mobile gadgets when traveling gets increasingly difficult – then add air travel to the equation and it can be nearly impossible.Anyone that travels through airports on a consistent basis eventually finds a winning combination of packing and unpacking mobile gadgets to quickly move them through security. For the rest of us there are things we need to do that insures we pick up all gadgets at the end of the conveyer line. Once in the security line at any airport you have to be ready for anything. Signs saying to take your laptop out of your bags are common. That is bad enough, but what about the gadget accessories? The last flight I took cost me more than the price of a ticket.
I knew that I would be traveling so I placed one of my new 8GB Flash drives into my change purse. At the time an 8GB Flash drive set me back a couple of hundred dollars and I did not want to take a chance of loosing it. It made sense to me to keep it packed inside my purse. It would be scanned yet it would be contained and would not slip into a crack somewhere and be lost. I was too comfortable I guess because I did not check for it after the search.
Once home I realized that it was gone. I made calls to each airport that I traveled through but as you could guess – no one had turned it in to lost and found. A few pictures were lost but luckily I did not have any sensitive data copied.
Since then I have concentrated on ways to improve my gadgets chances of making it home with me. If I do not need them during the trip I leave them at home – but I refuse to leave gadgets behind that I need.
These are a few things that I do:
- I show up early so that I am in less of a rush
- I keep my Flash drives attached to a keychain. It will make it more difficult for someone to quickly snatch it as it passes through the search
- I have a small zippered bag to hold small gadgets and accessories. Hopefully if the bag is unzipped and has a large open top the search will not be as invasive. A small heavy duty plastic bag works well too.
- I put sticky labels with contact information on power cords and on the back of each gadget. In case an honest mistake happens I can be contacted
- I make sure that my batteries have enough power that if requested I can boot my laptop and gadgets. If there is serious doubts about an electronic gadget they could be impounded
- I know what I have and I check for them once the search is over
Flying is difficult. Gone are the days that we could just show up, board the plane and enjoy the trip. Now my idea of a successful flight is just getting back home with all of my gadgets.
