The cutest bottle ever?
Miami, FL, January 2011
Once upon a time, backpacks came with meshy things on the outside that allowed me to tote along my stainless steel water bottle wherever I went. Flying is kinda bad for the whole hydration thing - airplane air is notoriously stale and dry - so being able to drink my way (come on, stop with the drinking jokes!) through my travels was an important means of arriving in somewhat decent shape.
Thanks to the usual band of ubiquitous cave-dwelling fundamentalist doofii (that's right, Osama, I'm coming for you, man) that luxury is yet another distant memory. Security being what it is, carrying fluids through the checkpoint has become the equivalent of holding a live grenade in your hand. Okay, maybe not so much. But it's enough to get the offending bottle tossed - and you pulled out of line and strip-searched down to your skivvies by Eudora the TSA Security Queen. Not so much fun. For me, anyway.
So no more water bottle. The meshy thing on my backpack is now empty. We buy our fluids now. After we get through security. At prices that approach the GDP of an emerging nation.
But I'm willing to overlook the captive-audience ripoff - "you'll turn into a prune if you don't buy our overpriced drinks" - if all bottles are as cute as this one.
Your turn: How do you cope with ever-tightening airport security? I'm back in the air in the not-too-distant future, so I'm all ears.
One more thing: New Thematic launches at 7:00 Eastern tonight. The theme: Please be seated. No, you don't have to be seated - not if you don't want to, that is - but that's the theme. It'll be fun. Really.
