yesterday morning i gave my precious husband quite the scare, i decided it would be a good idea to have a thrown down with airport security in athens. i could tell by the look in his eye that he was worried if i kept it up, they would either take me away and not let me get on the plane or never let me in the country again.
what was the source of my anger, you ask? knitting needles, of course.
we travel alot and even in the days after 9/11 i have never had an issue with carrying my knitting projects with me. and for the past 5 years i have made the trip to greece at least once, sometimes twice a year and they have NEVER even blinked at the long pointed things in my carry on. but yesterday was the day that they decided that knitting needles were no longer allowed through airport security.
it went down something like this.
security lady: can i look in your bag?
me: yes
security lady rummages through my bag (which drives me crazy i don't like strangers touching my stuff). she cant find anything, so she asks the screening guy what the issue was, he pulls up the image of my bag and she locates the offending items.
me to my precious husband : is they take my needles i am going to come unglued.
precious husband: stay calm. its not going to do any good to get mad.
security lady: you cant have these.
me (with disdain and irritation in my voice): why? i fly in and out of athens twice a year and its NEVER a problem. and they are approved in the states and that IS where i am flying in to.
security lady tells her supervisor in greek what i said. supervisor says NO needles.
at this point i am livid, steam is coming out of my ears and i am so mad i want to cry.
security lady: you cant have these, please take them out of your bag.
me: you have to be fucking kidding me.
security lady. no
supervisor comes over and attempts to touch my knitting, a baby sweater for the bean, this sends me over the edge. don't touch the knitting. my precious husband is trying to tell me to calm down. i take the needles i wasn't using out of the bag and pull the baby sweater off the needles. and i watch as the security guard throws all 3 pairs of needles in the trash can with great force.
i stewed about this all the way home. i guess today in the midst on laundry and grocery shopping, i need to go to the knitting store to get a new pair of addi needles.
At least it is not "the paper chase"...life in general can be trying at best...especially if you don't speak the language...but we know that .... is the common language...just hang around my studio in Kea...Stavros said to tell you BRAVO...XOXO
ReplyDeleteI travel (in the US) with knitting needles all the time - and scissors, thread cutters, etc. But one time had trouble - flying out of Mexico! I understand your frustration - I just about lost it too. It's crazy. Knitting needles and bottles of water, right?
ReplyDeleteoh I HATE THAT ... seriously how annoying airport security is ... all of that crap just to make people have the warm and fuzzies - - its not even relevant to danger on the airplane (ps - - 9/11 attacks NOT a knitting needle athens security guys!)
ReplyDeleteI 'won' such an argument once, in Gatwick, before 9/11. Now I travel with bamboo #1's, no problem yet. I have heard a desperation story of making a circular needle into a 'necklace' by stringing a big bead on it and
ReplyDeletetaping it together at the back of one's neck.
KNITTERS UNITE ! Dee
This is why I always travel with a padded mailer envelope, with postage, so that if this kind of wretched stupidity happens, at least I don't lose a needle. Addis, ouchy! I'm so sorry this happened at the end of your vacation!
ReplyDeleteooooh, that would make me soo mad. i'm so sorry that had to happen, what a silly predicament. and perfectly wonderful knitting needles, what a loss.
ReplyDeletecan't wait to hear about your trip. xo.