Flying on the Busiest Day of the Year

Philadelphia watch out! I’m going to be famous! Okay, not really famous, but maybe famous for thirty seconds or so… After shuffling off my flight from Tampa, FL, I made way down to baggage claim where I noticed the news folks out and about with their cameras ready to make some news. First they nabbed a mother of one (easy target) and probed her on today’s flying situation. Being a mother of what looked to be a well behaved child I imagine she still had some minor complaints, but that’s just my thinking negatively. Perhaps all went well, maybe TSA didn’t give her any grief – what do I know? Anyhow, almost immediately after I ended my phone call I became prey to Philly’s Channel 6 News crew.

First they kindly asked for my name which I thought Adrienne was enough, but apparently the full government name was in need so I disclosed my last name, but only after requesting some I.D. (I kid.) Once the formal introductions were said and done it was time to spill the beans. They asked what flying on the busiest day of the year was like and my summary went something like this:

Adrienne: Um, well flying out of Tampa wasn’t that bad. The security lines were a little longer than any other day, but they were handing out the little plastic baggies and all went smoothly.

News Reporter:
(Laughs) So the little baggies helped? Everything was operating well?

Adrienne: Coming out of Tampa, FL I’d say so…

New Reporter: Well that’s great! Thank you for your time.

Exciting stuff, eh? In all honesty that’s the way things went for me this morning. I got there a bit early, waited in line, played the dress-up game with security, took out my lap-top and wished all happy holidays. I did without any liquids, gels and other suspicious items this time so I didn’t even need the free plastic baggies they were passing out. Sigh… Now I assume there will be similar stories to mine, but was flying for anyone else pure hell today? In the event you didn’t get interviewed by the local news crew consider this an exclusive opportunity from Gadling to share your comments, rants, complaints or fuzzy feelings about flying during the holidays!

This is Adrienne Wilson reporting from the Philadelphia International Airport.

Teen Gets Passport & Heads to Middle East for MySpace Man

This I don’t understand. Apparently a 16-year-old girl out of Michigan tricked her parents into letting her get a passport to go on a trip to Canada with some friends of hers, but in reality the young girl was on her way to Israel, alone. Katherine R. Lester was on her way to meet a 25-year-old man from Jericho as described on his MySpace.com account when U.S. officials in Jordan convinced her to head home before reaching the West Bank. Her parents report their child as being a straight-A student, student council member and one to never give any troubles or problems. However something seems really strange and bizarre about the whole deal. How did she even make it that far out the country? Sure teens travel alone all the time, but to Tel Aviv? Maybe I’m a little out of the know? I just thank goodness someone spotted her before she reached her final destination.

The deputies in her town have since confiscated the family’s home computer and were taking it to the FBI’s Bay City office for a very thorough analysis – I’m sure. Sigh, kids on the internet.

via AOL News

Horrifying Miami Hotel Deaths

File this under: World Gone Mad.

A father of two on vacation in Miami, FL from Alton, IL killed his two young children, ages 4 and 8, by throwing them off the 15th floor of the Loews Hotel in South Beach. Moments after tossing the kids from the balcony he jumped to his own death. According to this AOL news piece the mother and father of the two children had been having marital problems for the past six months, yet the family had been celebrating the couple’s 10th wedding anniversary. The mother had no idea why the husband killed the children and himself.

I just can’t bring myself to imagine the horror of looking over a balcony to discover my entire family dead. These types of acts seem like the most gruesome and selfish of any kind. Man – poor woman. Guests in neighboring rooms did not hear any noises, but for those who had to witness and see such a terrifying scene going into the holiday weekend must be pretty bummed, to say the least.

Ugh!