International terrorism, thank God, was always a rather abstract thing for me. I knew it existed as an evil alongside Ebola, but it didn't have a significant impact on my life. Well, they asked us to take off our shoes at the airport because someone thought of the possibility of smuggling explosives in the sole, and so what? If there's no doubt about the freshness of your socks, I see nothing terrible in that procedure. But with the recent restriction on carrying liquids in hand luggage, problems arose. I, one might say, suffered morally and materially.
A wonderful German company invited me as a journalist for three days to Greece for a detailed introduction to their new products. Since all tickets on the direct flight that day were sold out, I had to fly to Athens via Munich.
What did that mean? That I would have to face the new rules for carrying liquids in EU airports. I had nothing special to check in, but now there were plenty of restrictions on hand luggage. To start, I gave up the idea of taking a shaving gel in a 200-gram can and a standard plastic bottle of water, which I usually use to quench my thirst upon arrival. These were self-imposed restrictions.
We left home fine, although I didn't buy the traditional bottle of whiskey here. In Munich, as I understood, it would have been illegal. I bought that very bottle during my transfer in Germany. 'Johnnie Walker' was packed in a plastic bag, a receipt was inserted, and then the container was sealed. The transfer went without losses for me, but my friend, with whom I went through secondary security screening in Munich, lost his toothpaste and semi-liquid deodorant that had come with him from Moscow. He had packed them in a translucent fabric pouch, but the officer demanded either go and buy a special plastic bag at the store or throw everything into a nearby 'garbage' (I think the contents of that trash bin could have solved the sanitary and hygienic problems of some district center for a month). Afraid of standing in line again at security, my friend threw everything away. My toothpaste interested no one: probably because it was a pitiful, nearly squeezed-out tube. Strangely, despite all the strictness, nobody checked my passport when boarding the plane in Germany — only the boarding pass. But that's just by the way.
Members of our journalist group flew to Greece by different routes. When we gathered together in Athens, it turned out that the loss of toothpaste was nothing compared to the losses of one member of the Russian delegation. A lady — she flew to Athens via Frankfurt — was forced to throw away almost all her cosmetics: cosmetic milk and other bottles with a capacity of more than 100 ml. 'If they want to blow something up, they will anyway!' the woman said bitterly.
But the story continued. On site, we were each given a bottle of wine. I know little about wine, but judging by the individual number on the label, it was something good and expensive. And then the time came to pack for the return. I didn't want to check in my luggage: first, it was a pity to waste time on collecting it upon arrival, and second, there was no guarantee that a bottle rattling in my bag would arrive intact.
Besides, there was an unopened bottle of whiskey bought during the transfer. And I wasn't sure if I could take it with me: what do the Greeks care about a package sealed three days ago in Germany?! No matter how much my friend tried to help me out of the difficult situation, we couldn't finish the bottle. Exactly the cherished hundred grams remained. At the airport, before the scanner, during the preliminary baggage inspection, I was told to throw away the bottle with the leftovers. Throw away whiskey?! Into the trash?! And what else could I do with it at eight in the morning, when my body shudders at the mere thought of the smell of alcohol?!
Right there at the airport it turned out that some members of our group had taken the gift wine with them after all. I gave the drink to the hotel staff, my colleagues to the Greek security control workers. The wine was not bought at duty-free, and it was impossible to slip a 'bootleg' bottle into a tightly sealed duty-free bag.
The conclusion from this story is simple: if you want to avoid problems during a flight, keep only your ticket and passport on hand. It's better to check everything else in your luggage.
Sergey Sherstennikov.
'You Have the Right'