The trip started off with a bang…after calling SuperShuttle to change my reservation time so that I would arrive at LAX 3 hours early, they showed up 45 min late only to tell me they still had to pick up one more person and then go to the Burbank airport before heading to LAX!!! Needless to say, I was not very happy. I got into a screaming match in my driveway with the driver!

Fortunately, Veronica (Patrick’s girlfriend) was off work and was able to drive me to LAX in my car–allowing her to also have a car to use since hers crapped out on the freeway a few days ago. She got me there about 2-1/2 hours before my flight time which turned out to be plenty early.

So all the news reports recommended you arrive at least 3 hours ahead of your flight time and that you should anticipate huge long lines just to get in the door. The longest line I encountered was 6-8 people waiting for the curbside skycap. After that I just walked in, went right up to the first security person and then went on up the stairs to the x-ray machines…where there was no line. I couldn’t believe it. I basically walked right in. It was less crowded than any time I’ve flown over the past year!

And, none of my bags were searched, my purse was not searched, and I was never asked if I was carrying anything given to me by someone else! Certainly less security than I expected. There were lots of police, bomb sniffing dogs and National Guardsmen at LAX, but they all seemed pretty laid back. I shot the shit with a couple of National Guardsmen while waiting in line at Starbucks and they seemed pretty cool about everything.

So high security isn’t all that big of a deal…and I packed 2 lighters and stuck a tube of chapstick in my pocket.