Dear Peter,

My name is Kellen. And I’m Ian.

We’re both nine years old, and we have been taking airplane trips with our families since we were babies.

We both like to fly. A lot. But the one thing we don’t like is the airport sicurity [sic].

Here’s why.

First, when you get to the airport, you have to wait in a long line. And wait and wait. And then you wait in another long line.

That’s the security line. That’s where they check you to make sure you are okay to go on the plane and that you don’t have liquids or bombs or stuff.

Kellen and I [Ian] always get nervous when we are in airport security. They make you take your shoes off when you don’t want to.

“Sometimes,” says Kellen, “they take you away from your parents. They did that when I was five. I cried, but they made me lift up my hands and waved a beeping thing up and down me. The wand.”

To us, the security people look very suspicious. Very.

Most of the time, they ask you what you have in your pockets. We usually only have rocks or coins in our pockets.

Kellen says that in New York, they made him throw his brand new, really cool snow globe away [snow globes are very important to him because he has a collection of 50]. When you are in security, you think you aren’t going to get out of it. It’s scary.

“My cousin[who’s 2] refused to take her shoes off when they told her to,” says Ian. “They search you like they think you’re a terrorist. We are NOT terrorists.”

Sincerely,

Kellen and Ian,
Studio City, California

Got a question for Peter? Send an email to info@PeterGreenberg.com (please include “Ask Peter” in the subject line).

To read more on airport security, check out “FlickYour Bic: Modern Airport Security”.

What might the future hold for these young travelers? Check out Airport Security of the Future.

Check out more tales of travel in Peter’s Travel Detective Blog.