How the TSA Stole Christmas

Coming back to Canada from the USA was an experience in security. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of ensuring no one brings a bomb in their shoe on board my flight home... but high security is cutting down on the amount of shopping I can do abroad, especially if what I buy needs to be confiscated at the airport.

We were good little boys and girls with our packing. We just brought carry-on, so we made sure we only had toiletries that were under 3 ounces and that fit in a clear plastic sandwich bag of the appropriate dimensions. We stopped ourselves from buying fluids and "weapons" while abroad because we knew they wouldn't make it home.

Yup, we played by all the rules. Except, we didn't count on the Transportation Security Agency (brought to you by the fine folks at Homeland Security) making up new rules.

At Disneyland, Natalie found a cool $10 gift for the Wagner family gift exchange: three packaged tins of flavoured and coloured lemonade crystals, each adorned with a recognizable Disney character.

But at Security Point #2 in LAX, Natalie's backpack was flagged. After going through the scanner twice, it was pulled off by a very serious lady who unpacked it all.

(As an aside, I suspect that's not a fun job. Basically, your job is to rifle through people's smelly dirty clothing all day.)

Eventually, she came to the lemonade. She tried to open the box briefly, but it was taped shut so she simply put it to the side and told us it wouldn't be going on the plane.

"Really? Uh, OK."

In retrospect, we should have offered to open it and test the lemonade crystals, but we were too stunned do anything more than accept that the lemonade was the Christmas gift that got away.

More importantly, I'm glad I stopped myself from saying the first thing that came to mind:

"Good point. We wouldn't want to have a taste explosion on our flight."

And that's how Daorcey stopped himself from getting strip-searched in LA.