Turns out, traveling with and carrying on a 15 lb backpack is an experience unto itself…I’m fairly well traveled, so have my own ‘system’ going thru airports… But I was quite unprepared for handling this monkey on my back.

I nearly took out a man when I turned around suddenly at check in, whoop whoop…then I got to TSA… Oh crap, where did I put that baggie with the liquids… I thought I put it on top for easy access…digging thru my pack just made matters worse… I looked up at the stone faced TSA lady and smiled weakly… Nothing for it but to empty out my pack on the conveyor belt…still not there, now I’m actually sweating… Then I remember… I put it in the small compartment at the top so that this wouldn’t happen…my neatly packed bag is now a jumbled mess as I shove everything back in, at this point going for expedience over organization.   Then I look down at my tightly laced boots “oh, those have to come off too don’t they” … Sigh!

This calls for a bathroom break, except as I turn to get in the stall, I am once again stopped short by my bag …laughing to myself like some crazed homeless person, which come to think of it, I bear some resemblance to… I head for the handicapped stall and try to sit down before I wet myself laughing.