The items you carry with you through an airport can greatly affect your experience. This is quite obvious I suppose. You will be treated by airport staff much differently if you are packing an Uzi as opposed to something oozy.
I have been carrying either a surf board or a violin through airports recently. The surf board is usually in a 9 foot long reflective silver bag. I don't recommend carrying such a thing through the airport, unless you like being stared at. I had it standing upright in a trolly while going through an american airport once. Everyone was looking at me as if I had the cryogenically preserved body of Lenin in there, and was about to board the next space shuttle to the moon.
"Exuse me for asking, but what is that?"
"Comrad Lenin."
Now I've covered the bag in surf stickers, and most people get it now.
On the other hand, carrying a violin through the airport is highly recommended. I almost always get aproached by someone who plays or used to play and they start an interesting and informative conversation about music and playing the violin. This is an enjoyable way to pass the usually anxious and boring time waiting for your next flight. The guy taking boarding tickets told me he was relieved I had brought my violin so we'd be saved in the event they had to fly on instruments.
I got back from another trip to Ireland and am in Canada now. I should change the title of this page to Travel between Canada and Ireland. I've put up some pictures from Peru that I got from my brother. You may have noticed that this blog is not in chronological order. I have some pics from a trip to Norway I went on a couple of years ago that may go up next.
