I hate flying. It is just a huge hassle. I really hate flying in America with airlines seemingly getting their customer service skills from communist Russia and the terribly irritating, disrespectful and utterly useless TSA. Having a little kid makes it worse. Given an option between flying with kiddo and getting kicked in the junk every hour on the hour for the same amount of time I would take the kicking.
Anyway the topic of preparedness and traveling by air comes up now and again. In various survivalist fiction it is a fairly common theme, typically showing a prepared person who gets caught unprepared. One answer which I sort of consider a cop out is to say that you live at your 'retreat' and do not travel. It is fine and dandy if that is how you want to live but many people it is not really an option. They need to travel occasionally for work or choose to see family who live far away (make no mistake if you move 2,000 miles to ideal survivalist land your friends and family are not going to all follow.) or just to have a fulfilling and interesting life.
It is not a big deal to be fairly well prepared when traveling. There is this magical thing called a checked bag. Take a well thought out selection of gear and put it into this bag. Below is a picture of various preparedness stuff that came along with us for this trip.
Contents:
Rocky boots, what I am wearing for work these days.
Sawyer water filter
Personal survival kit
IFAK
compass
lighter
cheapo flashlight
battery powered lantern
emergency radio
about 2-3k calories in food
the remaining stuff from my GHB
My TT bag
various knives-I didn't plan to go all John Locke here with the knives. A knife here or there plus a couple in kits sort of unintentionally grew to more than I might have brought when intentionally looking at all of them.
Not shown are some good serviceable clothing and a couple water bottles.
My experiences though brief, flying and carrying firearms have been positive. Unless you live in or travel to anti gun areas it is too easy to take a gun or two and some ammo along. This might be a good place for a fairly affordable gun sort of akin to a truck gun if you will. More a place for a $400 used revolver than your new custom $2,500 1911.
Yes checking a bag or two in the case of a gun, is a hassle. However it will let you land pretty well prepared instead of just relying on luck and your keen wits. To me an extra few minutes and a small fee are probably worth it. At least worth thinking about anyway.
Something else to consider is keeping some equipment supplies and maybe even weapons in a place you regularly travel to. This of course would require that you can afford to take a small portion of your supplies (maybe a gun or two, a pair of boots, some clothes and maybe basic camping stuff like a pack, a tent and a sleeping bag, etc.) or have the money to purchase this stuff at the location. Also it would require a safe place to store this stuff or the establishment of a full on cache. This is an excellent place for fairly inexpensive (but still good) stuff like military surplus gear.
Anyway the topic of preparedness and traveling by air comes up now and again. In various survivalist fiction it is a fairly common theme, typically showing a prepared person who gets caught unprepared. One answer which I sort of consider a cop out is to say that you live at your 'retreat' and do not travel. It is fine and dandy if that is how you want to live but many people it is not really an option. They need to travel occasionally for work or choose to see family who live far away (make no mistake if you move 2,000 miles to ideal survivalist land your friends and family are not going to all follow.) or just to have a fulfilling and interesting life.
It is not a big deal to be fairly well prepared when traveling. There is this magical thing called a checked bag. Take a well thought out selection of gear and put it into this bag. Below is a picture of various preparedness stuff that came along with us for this trip.
Rocky boots, what I am wearing for work these days.
Sawyer water filter
Personal survival kit
IFAK
compass
lighter
cheapo flashlight
battery powered lantern
emergency radio
about 2-3k calories in food
the remaining stuff from my GHB
My TT bag
various knives-I didn't plan to go all John Locke here with the knives. A knife here or there plus a couple in kits sort of unintentionally grew to more than I might have brought when intentionally looking at all of them.
Not shown are some good serviceable clothing and a couple water bottles.
My experiences though brief, flying and carrying firearms have been positive. Unless you live in or travel to anti gun areas it is too easy to take a gun or two and some ammo along. This might be a good place for a fairly affordable gun sort of akin to a truck gun if you will. More a place for a $400 used revolver than your new custom $2,500 1911.
Yes checking a bag or two in the case of a gun, is a hassle. However it will let you land pretty well prepared instead of just relying on luck and your keen wits. To me an extra few minutes and a small fee are probably worth it. At least worth thinking about anyway.
Something else to consider is keeping some equipment supplies and maybe even weapons in a place you regularly travel to. This of course would require that you can afford to take a small portion of your supplies (maybe a gun or two, a pair of boots, some clothes and maybe basic camping stuff like a pack, a tent and a sleeping bag, etc.) or have the money to purchase this stuff at the location. Also it would require a safe place to store this stuff or the establishment of a full on cache. This is an excellent place for fairly inexpensive (but still good) stuff like military surplus gear.
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4 comments:
Meh, I will drive or not go at all. The Testicle Squeezer Association can take a flying leap, I ain't subjecting myself, and sure as hell not my family to their fondling and pornoscanners. My trip last month was enough for me.
Craig, I hear where you are coming from For regional trips I agree with your assessment. However for longer trips it just doesn't work. The realistic options are to fly or not go.
Nice list - but be careful with knife laws, certain jurisdictions can be real dicks. Many examples feel that double edged blades (i.e. daggers) are evil. Sheath knife blades exceeding a certain dimension make you a terrorist. Some foreign countries feel that serrated blade edges are more dangerous than non serrated.
And that sort of thing - the metal detectors at doors may rat you out, even if the knife is buried way in there. Just be careful is all I'm saying.
The flashlight, foods, clothing, comfortable hiking shoes - thats all good. An extra large t-shirt is useful - that extra layer can keep you warm if waiting outside from airport is required.
When most people travel, they forget to pack their clues, and often leave their common sense behind at rest stops.
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