Tips For Going Through Airport Security

TTT 11
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Jenn: Hey everybody welcome back to travel tips Tuesday,

Meggan: hey everyone,

Jenn: we are all getting back out there and some of us are getting up there for the first time flying. So I want to talk about. Airport security. Cause that's a super fun topic.

Meggan: It's fun, but it's also, I mean, pertinent. So we must,

Jenn: it is like security measures have definitely changed over the years, right?

Like we've both been traveling for quite a while now. And actually my first flight ever was just a couple of months after nine 11. So it looked completely different than right. They looked through your entire luggage even your checked luggage, they unzippered it and looked through it. And when we were going through pre-board security, they looked through everything.

They made me turn on my Walkman to make sure it was a working electronic.

Meggan: Oh my goodness.

Jenn: I know, thankfully, we don't have to do that.

Meggan: And I actually remember flying once out of lax and the person I was with actually was able to walk me to my gate.

Jenn: Wow.

Meggan: That's how old I am and it was beautiful. It was like, those were the, you missed "the days"

Jenn: I miss the days, I guess.

Meggan: So things have changed since 2001, but things have really in that bad way changed since earlier, that's fair.

Jenn: It's a time-consuming process, right? Like the security, the lines can be really, really long and you don't want to be on one of our travel fail episodes. Talking about how you got to the airport and missed your flight because you didn't get through security in time.

Which one of my friends has done because he's decided to eat a meal in the restaurant at the airport before security and

Meggan: don't ever eat before security. No,

Jenn: no, no, no, no.

Meggan: The anxiety I feel just saying,

Jenn: I don't know. It was a really bad idea. But in general, Meggan, like how early do you plan to get to the airport before you go through security?

Meggan: Well, the airport makes Peter die a slow death and he, he does not enjoy it, but I am sort of ardent about us being there two hours.

Jenn: Yeah. I would say I'm in the two to three hours realm. I might be more closer to two and a half to three hours, depending on how anxious I am and how early in the morning.

Meggan: And it doesn't hurt to, to get there early one time we got there thankfully quite early and Peter had forgotten his passport at home.

Jenn: Good thing. It's not that far away from the airport,

Meggan: but if we'd shown up half an hour early, Yeah, never been able to go. So there's many reasons to show up early.

Jenn: There is many reasons. And so we think you should get to the airport and go right to the security line dilly dally. And when you do that, have your boarding pass and your ID. At the ready, you will need that immediately when you're getting into the security line. Next tip is to wear shoes that come on and off easily. And I don't recommend sandals because do you want to walk barefoot on airport carpet?

Meggan: No,

Jenn: I don't really no. I know um, less metal the better. I am usually a pretty like low jewelry person, but I do wear a Fitbit and. So the last time I traveled, he was like, you need to take that off. I'm like, oh yeah. So that's another couple of like extra seconds. So just keep that stuff in mind. If you're a big

Meggan: you can always that stuff in your backpack to see time. If you wanted to take it with you.

Jenn: Definitely. Speaking of in your backpack, have your laptop. If you're traveling with one in an easy accessible place, cause you will need to take that out of your bag and put it in its own bin to go through security. Now, the last times that I've traveled to like an iPad or a tablet, they haven't made me take it out.

It's only like a laptop. Um, Yes. And liquid. So the liquids that you bring your only allowed the little under a hundred milliliter size bottles and have them all together in one bag, ready to take out of your bag. Cause that will also need to come out of your bag

Meggan: the idea is just ease of the process.

Jenn: You're trying to make this process go as quickly and as painlessly as um, have your water bottle empty. Because if that's full of water, they will make you dump it out. It doesn't matter if you just filled it up, doesn't matter if you just bought it and it's still sealed, they do not care.

Meggan: No, they don't give them your liquids or else.

Jenn: Yes. And be nice to that. Do not joke about bombs or anything. Security, you might think you're being funny, but you're not.

Meggan: And they won't be laughing when they, when they pull you aside for real,

Jenn: that bad times. I'm not going to go over what you can and can't bring I'll put a link to the CATSA website for Canadians in the show notes that they have a really neat like search function, where you can search. And I'll tell you if you can take it in your checked bag. In your carry on baggage or one or the other or both so I've used that before and it's, it's actually really helpful. Have you ever had a problem going through security before? No.

Meggan: So like, no issues. I mean, I've been randomly selected, I suppose, for baggage search when I've gotten to countries that happened to me, maybe in like Bermuda and one other place for some reason, never happens to Peter.

Only ever happens to me. Been selected as well to go through the machine that does the full body scan as compared to just walking through the, but I mean, no issues,

Jenn: no, I haven't had any issues. My husband used to work pre-board security at the airport when we were first dating. So he's like very neurotic about getting through the security line as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

So I haven't really had any. Issues that I can think of. But yeah, similar to you, like going through the full body scanner, which is really not a big deal. I actually like the full body scanner because it's over and like it's very quickly over not bad at all. So yeah. Happy airport security travels,

Meggan: I think is another tip as well. Like, I mean, all the things we've mentioned really at this point in our lives, we should all know. And I know there are like first-time travelers out there. So if you aren't sure the website Jen's going to put in the show notes. I mean, and I think it makes a lot of sense and really just common sense.

Jenn: Like when I was traveling recently to thunder bay, I was taking my cross stitch stuff cause I wanted to work on a project and I was like, oh, can I take my little scissors? Cause it's like, they're sharp and pointy. I don't know. And so I went on the CATSA website and yes I can, as long as they're under three inches in length.

So those are the things that you learned on the website.

Meggan: That's a good resource.

Jenn: It would be a good resource. Thank you for listening to this episode of travel tip Tuesday, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at the travel mug podcast, you can visit our website travel mug, podcasts.com, and you can support us by buying a coffee.

The link would be thirsty. We really need a coffee, caffeine boost.

Thank you so much. And if you could share the show with the travel loving pal, that would also be amazing. And we'll talk to you next week. Bye everyone.

Meggan: Bye guys.