What Political Relationships Can Do to Your Travel Plans

In these troubling political times, for the first time in my life, I feel afraid to try to travel back to my country. Part of it is, I sometimes want to stay in the country I am visiting, things back home just have me plain scared at times. But looking at my return flight from the 2017 trip, I am flying in from Amsterdam. Amsterdam, that place where many vices are legal, more so than our new Green States in the US.

Call it paranoia, or prudence? My bags will be checked in Scotland, which I think the US still has good relations with, although I haven’t seen Nicola Sturgeon news on meeting with President Trump yet. Since she has a Scottish Independence stance from the UK, our ally, who knows? Bags will stay in transfer with airlines, but I may come under scrutiny on the way in. Bad enough I have a very short transfer in Amsterdam and well, with the luck I have with boarding passes, I could miss my flight as is. Hmmm.

When traveling, think about the lovely country you are visiting, but also check on foreign relations with your country. There have been cases over the years where luggage has been compromised to bring drugs in. There have even been cases where your luggage may have been next to a tainted case and enough of a smell alerts a dog. It’s not just in the movies folks, things do happen. Just be aware.

Now, to figure out how to transfer smoothly in 1 hour 15 minutes when it takes 20 minutes to get off a plane do to someone having overhead baggage problems. Oh, check out map of airport, plot route and run.