Airport security and other oddities at the Sydney Airport

In typical Kim fashion, Ryan and I procrastinated on deciding what to do for his last week in Australia. We went back and forth between our three options - Uluru, Cairns, Melbourne. Cairns was ultimately decided on Monday night; we bought plane tickets roughly nine hours before the flight. We pulled an all-nighter, passing the time watching the first season of Entourage. (I’ve watched the seventh season before and now I’m starting from the beginning.) Wheeling our luggage through Uni to the train station at 4 in the morning wasn’t too glamorous, but after two train transfers and five hours later I am now writing this post while sitting at Gate 5 awaiting our departure, with Ryan off finding breakfast.

I would consider myself an experienced flyer. I’ve flown the most out of my family and for the most part solo. When security divides the line into ‘Causal’ and ‘Expert’ traveler, I’m always the latter. Sydney, however, is my first time flying domestic in a foreign country. My main concern as Ryan and I were traveling was the fact that we only had an hour from the time we got off the train at the airport and our flight leaving. My main concern wasn’t what if we got lost but would we get held up in a long security line?

Sydney is the largest airport in Australia, so you would assume there would be some strict airport security. Having ‘earned my wings’ in post-9/11, I know airport security is something America takes seriously. I’ve become a master of the security line shuffle-the awkward dance where I remove my shoes and belt while scooting my carry-on and trail of bins down the conveyer belt while holding my boarding pass in my mouth. It’s a spectacle to see!

Yet I did not perform “the dance” in Sydney. I wasn’t asked to remove my shoes or even show my boarding pass. I was extremely puzzled. Would they check for my id at the gate before I boarded? Going through security took a grand total of two minutes and one of those minutes was when I was randomly tested for explosive material on my clothes and bag.

I’ve come to learn that Australia is an extremely laid-back country, but is this taking it too far? Anyone could’ve gotten through security or posed as another person. There were no security announcements reminding passengers to be aware of suspicious looking baggage. My boarding pass was never verified by an id. Then I thought-does being American have something to do with it? After all, controversial body scanners are now being installed into our airports. Do we take airport security a little too far?

Ryan’s view of the matter is that no the US doesn’t go overboard on security because terrorists are coming up with new tactics so we have to keep one step ahead of them. He gives a valid point. September 11^th showed a great weakness in our system and we’ve been try to compensate ever since. He does joke that he has no problem with TSA patting down his “God-given” asset.

Something that was also interesting but not surprising was that there were no check-in counters. We got our tickets and even checked our bags using the nifty airline kiosks.

Ahh Ryan’s back with breakfast; Hungry Jacks it is!

Blogging on the go

Cheers for now,
Kim

[SDU Note: Of course nothing goes right for us and both of our flights-to and from Cairns-were delayed by an hour and two hours.]