Today is a travel day for us. I am still able to be impressed by the fact that we can travel coast to coast in a single day. And we are traveling diagonally across the continent as well, from South Carolina to British Columbia. The good part about traveling west is that we don’t have to get up very early in the morning and arrive after dark as is the case when we travel west to east. Today our first flight is at 10:40, which still means we need to be at the airport by about 9 am, and we arrive in Vancouver at 9:21 if everything goes according to schedule. It is less than 12 hours on the clock from the time we take off until we land, with some fairly long layovers along the way. We will go through Canadian customs at Winnipeg and have lots of time to take care of that extra step in the process.

The down side of traveling east to west is that it makes for a very long day. 9:21 pm in Vancouver is 12:21 am the next day in South Carolina, which makes for an 18 hour day. a long day, however, seems to us to be a good investment. We got to spend two weeks with our daughter and grandson and we get to sleep in our own beds tonight.

I’m not sure why it took us this long to discover how convenient it is for us to fly in and out of Vancouver. We have flown from Vancouver in the past, but when we did so we lived a bit farther away. Now, it is less than an hour for us to drive from the airport home and that includes time to clear customs back into the United States. There won’t be long lines at the border by the time we get there this evening. Our son is meeting our flight, so we have an easy ride home and his home is just a few minutes down the road from ours.

In the future we will definitely check prices for flying in and out of Vancouver. Were we to fly in and out of Seattle, the drive home from the airport would be about two hours and the trip can take a lot longer at certain times of the day when the traffic is bad. There are flights from Seattle to Bellingham, and we have taken them in the past, but they are expensive and add quite a bit to the cost of the flight. So Vancouver is definitely a good option for us.

I grew up around airplanes and flying and for the most part I look forward to traveling by air. There are some things that make airline travel less fun these days. One is Dynamic Pricing. All major airlines use algorithms to determine the price of each individual ticket. This means that different passengers pay different amounts for the same trip. The airlines claim that this practice allows them to fill more seats and make more profit. That may be the case, but it isn’t that far from an illegal practice that is called price discrimination. It must be far enough, however, because the airline companies have been using dynamic pricing for some time now.

Another thing that makes flying a bit less fun than it was when I was younger is the security that has become necessary to provide safe flight for passengers and crew. After 911 the Transportation Security Administration was created and charged with providing for airline security. While there have been some problems, the system has worked for the most part. However, airports were not designed for the extra space that is required to scan everyone individually and inspect all of the luggage. Technologies such as scanning machines, have helped, but the process has a certain slowness that means more waiting in line and necessitates arriving at the airport earlier. Also, because shoes and belts must be removed and the contents of pockets emptied before being scanned, there is a certain disruption while people remove the items before entering the scanner and replace them at the other end. The process, while perhaps necessary isn’t fun.

Then, on a flight not long ago, I discovered another challenge for flying. After a prostate biopsy, I needed to wear disposable underwear on a flight. That particular brand and type of underwear indicated that there was the potential of canceling something there, requiring a pat down that included a very private area. While it is possible to have the procedure performed behind a screen, that takes extra time and I opted for a public pat down. It all went smoothly, but it was another indignity added to having my shoes and belt removed. Meanwhile the contents of my pockets, including my wallet were in a tray at the receiving end of the luggage scanner, meaning that I was concerned that while security was being provided in one sense, there was little security protecting my possessions in a very busy environment on the other side of the screening area.

Fortunately, I don’t have to wear that kind of underwear for today’s trip. I will, however, make a brief comment about the process of removing shoes. The requirement to remove shoes, along with restrictions on the amount of liquids, gels, and aerosols allowed, was instituted almost five years after the 911 attacks. It was instituted in response to a passenger who attempted to detonate a bomb concealed in a shoe. That is reason for increased security. However, the scanning machine through which our shoes go cannot detect certain types of explosives, including the type the would-be bomber attempted to use. There is a simple wipe that does detect explosives, and could be conducted on shoes while they are being worn, but instead we remove them and they are not scanned for explosives. There is something a bit counter intuitive about the process from my point of view.

Despite the challenges, we are fortunate to be able to make today’s trip and with the right attitude on my part, it should be an adventure. I’m starting the day with an open mind and resolve not to get too rattled with the challenges of travel.

We’re homeward bound!