The bottom line is that scanners provide a detailed, three-dimensional image of a person’s body, basically a virtual strip search. The images from body scanners are supposed to be discarded immediately, but it was discovered in August that a courthouse in Orlando had been saving them. Personally, I’m not interested in subjecting myself to this virtual strip search and when I am confronted with one of these, I will decline to go through it.

But, there seems to be some troubling news about what happens to those who do turn down the scanner option (and it IS an option). This new issue was addressed recently by Charlie Leocha at the Consumer Traveler. It seems that passengers at some airports who opt for a pat-down as opposed to a body scan, are being subjected to open-handed palm-forward invasive searches by TSA. In effect, passengers are being punished for choosing not to walk through the scanner, and are given such an embarrassing security search that they’ll think twice before opting out of the body scanner in the future.

My reasons for opting out of the body scanner are two-fold. For one, no matter how low-level the government claims the radiation to be on these scanners, I’m not interested in subjecting my body to any more than is absolutely necessary. (It’s why I also question my dentist any time I’m told I need an x-ray.) The government states that these advanced imaging scanners are “safe” and that they send out such low levels of radiation that a person would have to be exposed thousands of times a year to have any ill-effect. However, there is research that about one in 20 people are particularly sensitive to radiation, as are children who can develop cancers later in life from early radiation exposure.

Second of all, I’m frankly quite uncomfortable with a stranger scanning the details of my body. While I’m fairly certain that a TSA employee will have little time to give thought to my particular outline, the thought of it creeps me out a bit.

Women travelers should give particular consideration to whether you want to be subjected to these scanners. For pregnant women, specifically, the effects on an unborn child are unknown. If a TSA employee tries to assure you it’s safe, remember that their job is to make the line move faster, not protect your child. There’s also an interesting twist on the female factor from the Islamic community. It is a violation of their religion for another person to see their private parts. (This reminds me of when I was getting a foot massage in Bangkok and noticed a Muslim woman had been shielded by a curtain from the rest of the customers.) Imagine the embarrassment for this very modest community!

With this alarming news that the TSA is making the pat down process more unpleasant for passengers who decline the body scan, I’d love to know what you plan to do when you’re faced with such a decision.

Travel Well,

Beth

Related links:
Knock Knock. Who’s there. The Feds.
Security Alert – Peanut Butter is Spreadable
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Where Have all the Clunkers Gone?

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Prior to that trip, I had never taken a laptop on an international adventure. This is mainly because I do all of my work on my laptop (I switched to a MAC a year ago – and love it) and if I were to lose it or any of my data on a trip, I’d pretty much be in the hole for a lot of money and headache trying to piece all of my applications and docs back together. My MAC is also a 17″ and not the most convenient item to pack.

Asus Eee Available on Amazon

Being away for so long this spring, I figured it would be a good idea to be able to take notes, check email on occasion and Skype with Jon when possible. What I didn’t realize was how incredibly connected I was going to be for most of the trip. This was a good thing, by the way. It allowed me to keep up with email and work without coming home to inumerable emails and an incredibly stressful catchup time.

Surprisingly, it turned out that many of the hotels where my group stayed in Vietnam and Cambodia had Wifi, so I could access the Internet in my room (well, sometimes only in the hallway when the signal wasn’t strong enough!). In Thailand, the hotels had Wifi as did so many of the cafes. And in Bhutan? You’d think this would have been less accessible but the country is in the midst of a transformation and the government is requiring all hotels to provide Wifi by 2012 – so many already do offer it.

Now, back to the Asus. Not having anything to compare this to, netbook-wise, I’ll simply tell you what I like and don’t like about this one.

Likes:
* Stated battery life is 10.5 hours. This is actually 2-3 hours less depending on how many programs you have running. But STILL, that’s enough to get you through a few movies on a trans-ocean flight.
* 2.8 pounds makes this super light to carry around, even in a daybag.
* The small size, 10.3 x 7 x 1, also means that it will fit into most daybags.
* Everything pretty much works right out of the box. Wifi was super easy to set up and Skype downloaded easily.
* Video camera and mic are both built in so I could Skype and stream Seattle radio stations from the comfort of my hotel room.

Dislikes:
* All the crap that loads at startup. I had to spend way more time than I would have liked to figure out how to delete some applications and turn off others so that my desktop wasn’t filled with a bunch of applications as soon as I turn on the computer.

Some will complain about the size of the keyboard. It is small. For someone with larger hands than I, this might be an issue, but it’s fine for me. And, really what can you expect from such a tiny computer (most people are used to using their iPhone or iPad as a little computer, anyway!).

When I bought mine in January, it was about $320. I see that the price has gone up to nearly $400. Not sure why such a huge increase for the same computer. Shop around on Amazon, you may not need the souped up version like I got, even Asus has models that are less expensive with fewer bells and whistles.

Asus Eee Available on Amazon

Travel Well,

Beth

I leave in about 48 hours for Hanoi. (Aaaaaah!) But Vietnam isn’t the only country I’ll be visiting in the next 5 weeks. I’ll also be in Cambodia, Thailand and Bhutan. It appears that temps will range from the 90s in Bangkok and Saigon to the 30s (at night) in Thimphu, Bhutan.

As the queen of packing light, I’ve spent an unusual amount of time over the last 2 weeks sorting through clothes that will work well as layers, pack well and enable me to wash them out at night so that they’ll dry quickly.

Fortunately, travel clothes have come a long way in the last 20 years and there are a lot more fashionable options today than ever before. I think I’ve narrowed down what I’ll be bringing with me in my one carry-on (that’s right, I’m not checking any bags!). Thought I’d share at least a partial list of my clothes:

• 1 pair of ExOfficio convertible pants
• 1 pair of Columbia capris
• 2 Columbia base layers
• 1 ExOfficio DryFlyLite
• 3 pairs of ExOfficio underwear (I’ve gotten away with 2 in the past but it’s always nice to have a spare so I’m not rinsing them out every single night)

I’ve got a couple of items on order from Royal Robbins – if they arrive on time, I might swap out an item or two.

I’ve also been using the Rough Guide books for research and will be carrying the Vietnam book with me on this trip and then my very trusty Lonely Planet guide to Bhutan.

As for electronics, this is where I usually get weighted down. Here’s what’s going in my bag:

• Kindle - I got a deal on one just before the holidays and have decided to carry this instead of paperback books. I’m excited to have found a book for free that I’ve always wanted to read, Autobiography of a Yogi.
• Digital Foci PhotoSafe – to back up my digital images from my SD card (hard lesson learned when I lost – but later recovered – about 300 images from India).
• iPhone - I’ll only use this for text messaging home and tapping into free wireless networks.
• Asus netbook – my latest purchase, which will allow me to keep up with my email and writing while I’m away.

This list is by no means complete. There’s my small bag of toiletries, snacks, paperwork, decaf tea bags and more. But it at least gives you an idea what I’ll be lugging around until April.

I’m hoping that since I’ll have the netbook, I’ll be able to blog from the road, sharing images of food, the locals, landscape and my groups!

Travel Well!

Beth

Related links:
Creature Comforts
Washing and Drying Travel Options
Tom Bihn Gear – win $200 in your name for Haiti!
Gear from XShot
Otterbox and Vemayca Cosmetic Bag

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A bit of background…

1. On Christmas Day, a Nigerian man tried to ignite an explosive on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. He was thwarted when passengers stopped him.

2. Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, read a statement on December 26 suggesting that passengers be “observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behavior…”. In effect making YOU Big Brother. Oh, and there was her line about security measures working properly because the bomb didn’t go off. Apparently she didn’t know it was passengers and NOT airport security that actually stopped the would-be bomber’s efforts.

3. On December 27, a TSA Security Directive was leaked to a couple of travel writers, including Steven (Fish) Frischling and Chris Elliott. Both posted the directives on their websites.

The Directive gave power to the pilots on many fronts including prohibiting passengers from getting up out of their seat beginning one hour prior to landing and preventing passengers from having pillows, blankets or personal items in their lap during that one hour. Some airlines limited the number of carry-on bags to just one.

4. On December 29, Federal Agents appeared at Chris’ and then Fish’s door, demanding access to their computers to find out who sent the leaked Security Directive. Chris denied their request and called his lawyer while Fish allowed them to make a copy of his hard drive. The agents returned the next day, took his computer, and then returned it damaged later that day.

5. The subpoenas against Fish and Chris were dropped on New Year’s Eve.

6. Finally, on January 3, the TSA released a new statement regarding security measures for international flights. The statement? It consists of one paragraph with few details:

“Because effective aviation security must begin beyond our borders, and as a result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners, TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening. The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S. bound international flights.”

*****

There’s been increased talk about adding full body scanners at airports, a likelihood after this most recent incident. According to CNN Travel, as many as 150 have already been purchased and an additional 300 units are expected by 2012.

Sure, the TSA folks have a hard job. But throwing higher-end technology at the problem won’t solve everything.

I have often (absent-mindedly) gone through a screening checkpoint having forgotten to pull out my quart-size bag containing liquids. No one’s noticed a thing. How thorough is THAT?

The Department of Homeland Security is using smoke and mirrors to give the impression that we are all going to be safer. Unfortunately, the problem is systemic. Throwing vague security directives at us does no good. Using the Christmas Day incident as reason to implement body scan machines (virtual strip searches) is ridiculous. Strong arming travel writers and bloggers into silence is pitiful.

Bad people are always going to find ways to do bad things. And while there are measures that can be implemented to help avoid catastrophes, being on a U.S. watch list (as our Christmas Day bomber was in the U.K.) would have averted this whole situation.

DHS – please don’t ask us to do your job. We’d feel safer if you would talk to other countries and share watch lists. Talk to other agencies and share info about potential terrorists. And when a father calls the authorities to alert them that he thinks his son is a terrorist? Listen.

Travel Well,

Beth

Related links:
Security Alert – Peanut Butter is Spreadable
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Where Have all the Clunkers Gone?

Photo credit: security line – kalleboo

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I remember when one-way tickets could easily cost as much as the price of the entire round trip ticket. When I mentioned this to a group of women at my travel class at the Rick Steves Center last week, they all said, “Oh yes, one way tickets are much cheaper.” I must have missed the memo, but I don’t want you to!

To test my new theory, I checked on a few fares out of Seattle on multi-city trips. I chose non-holiday travel to make it a fair search and in addition to Expedia, I checked Orbitz. Keep in mind that this all took place within about a 30 minute time period. Here’s an example of what I found:

Seattle-Denver-Washington, DC – Seattle was $350 on Expedia

The one way tickets to these destinations added up to $295 on Expedia. I then went over to Orbitz to see what they could come up with and found:

Seattle-Denver-Washington, DC – Seattle was $292 on Orbitz

Here’s the kicker:

When I went back to double check the cost on Expedia, it had dropped to $298 after I checked Orbitz. Got that? The price on Expedia dropped less than 30 minutes later and only after I checked Orbitz. While I’m not saying that Expedia knows what I’m doing on other booking engines, I’m suggesting you check and recheck all of your options before finalizing your purchase.

Whether you’re searching for a roundtrip, multi-city or one-way fare, flights right now are cheap cheap cheap. Book as soon as you know your travel dates (prices will usually only go up the closer you get to departure, particularly for busy seasons like holidays).

Consider this:

• If you can be flexible, plug in days before and after your ideal travel dates to see if you can save some dough there. Alternately, some booking engines allow you to choose a “flexible dates” option.
• When flying multi-city, consider several one-way tickets.
• See my post about booking engines and check at least several options before clicking the buy button.

Plane tickets are expensive. Use the same judicious decision-making process you would for any large purchase and you should be able to find yourself a deal in these times when the airlines are clamoring for your business.

Travel Well,

Beth

Photo credit: Boarding Pass – Alex-s

Related links:
The American Travel Ethos
Flight Booking Engines – What Works?
What Makes a Travel Hotspot?
Unplugging While Traveling
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Pretty Young Thang
How Not to be a Trashy Tourist