Yesterday, I took my first domestic flight in Australia since arriving almost 3 months ago. I am finally starting to hit the road to see clients outside of Sydney; yesterday's trip took me to the lovely city of Melbourne. But this post is not about Melbourne, unfortunately. That's because I saw none of it (but, have been there before). This was a classic taxi-->airport-->taxi-->hotel-->taxi-->airport trip. Anyhoo...
What struck me was the pleasantness of the flying experience as well as how unnerved it left me. Allow me to explain. First, how nice the experience was. Folks in the office said that if I arrived to the airport by 7:15 for a 7:30 flight, that I'd be fine. WHAT!?!?!!? In the States, I would not even think about being at the airport later than 90 minutes before a flight, and that's risking it. Not here, not for domestic flights. My colleagues were right. Here was the experience in brief:
- 5 minutes from taxi to gate. 5 minutes. That includes passing through security.
- Free Sydney Morning Herald newspapers for all guests, and new headphones.
- Free wine after 4 pm on all flights. I enjoyed a lovely pinot gris.
- Personal digital TVs with brand new movies and excellent choices of shows, for free. I watched a fascinating documentary about the quest for and consequences of Michelin star ratings.
- Friendly Qantas staff, who seemed genuinely happy to be of service.
- Full (and free) dinner service on a 1-hour flight....Qantas is known for its good food. It wasn't bad.
Everything from the gate onwards was awesome...the flight was relaxing and quite enjoyable. So why did this unnerve me, you ask? Well, because of the lack of security at the airport, I had a sinking feeling the entire flight. No ID was checked, no shoes removed (nor belts, jewelry, electronics, etc), no liquids sequestered into teeny little bottles in a quart-sized ziploc (I wish I had bought stock in Ziploc). I could have been anyone getting on that plane with anything. And so could any of the other 150 people on my flight. And it made me nervous.
As much as I miss the peacefulness and admittedly naive approach to air travel (and so many other things) we had prior to the 9/11 tragedy and as annoyed as I get with the security situation all flyers encounter in the States, I am glad we have it. Having been in Washington, DC on that fateful day (and having a sister and future brother/family-in-law as well as countless friends in NYC that day), I know that evil people will always look for & find holes in an open society's approach to life. I also know now that I do appreciate the security efforts in place, and I wish some were in place here.
And for the record, I also know (but didn't need to be reminded) that I will never forget that day.
Until next time...xoxo
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