Escaping the Everyday

Have you ever traveled to a destination and the unimaginable happens? I think we all have some of those stories. Some may make you laugh now but some might still make you cringe.

When things go wrong while traveling, I know that I’ll learn from it! I always try and tell myself; I will never make that mistake again!

Story #1: Security Checkpoint Gone Wrong

Being 18 years old, flying home from college by yourself can be a little intimidating. At the time, I hadn’t flown a lot, let alone by myself. After my friend dropped me off at the airport, it was only 5:30am and I’m half awake. All I had was my carry-on so I figured going through security would be quick and easy. I could get my coffee and be on my way to waiting at the gate until the flight started to board.

Boy, was I wrong!

I go through the body scanner at the security check point, and as I’m waiting for my bag to come through the scanner, I hear someone say; “Is this your bag?”

As they’re searching through my bag, I see them pull out my brass knuckles on my key chain. Of course, it was stuffed in my purse which was in the middle of my carry on… It was almost like I was trying to hide it.

I had about 5 different people “interview” me asking me why I brought a weapon through security. I explained to each and every one of them that I have a couple work shifts that end at 2am, so my brother got them for me for safety reasons while I walked back to my dorm room.

They took my ID and was gone for a bit to the point where I started panicking and crying about missing my flight. I told them they can just take it, and that it was important that I do not miss my flight.

“That’s not how this works” is what I heard next from the man standing with me.

A state marshal comes back with my ID and starts asking me all the same questions I was just asked by 5 different employees. He escorts me to my seat on the plane. He told me I would be on watch until I reached my destination.

As I was walking through the aisle, everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of criminal. I’m sure the story was told to a bunch of their family members!

“I saw this young girl being escorted down the aisle by a state marshal, I wonder what she did?!”

Even after all of that, he was probably the nicest person I talked to because he indicated…

“I know you’re not a bad person, but we have to take precautions with these things. Just relax and you’ll be home before you know it.”

Every time I flew after that for a few years, I would get patted down going through security. One time, the TSA agent made me take out my messy bun which I thought was a bit unnecessary.

Now you will always see me doubling checking the TSA website for what I can and cannot bring on a plan. I also do a full search of the pockets before putting all my belongings in the luggage bag.

Story #2: St. Louis Parking Disaster

When Jake and I were driving to Montana, we hit our first big hurdle when we were staying with my brother in St. Louis!

If you aren’t aware, St. Louis can be a dangerous place so we couldn’t just park our car on the street or in a parking garage because odds are it’d get broken into.

One time my brother’s jeep was parked on a street in the city, mind you this was a “safer” section, and one of his windows was smashed and his car was rifled through.

Since our whole life was in the car, Alex asked his manager at the apartment complex if we could park in the secure garage. They said yes, but the clearance to get in was only 6’7” and I’m thinking “ugh, with our Thule, we’ll never make it in”.

Next thing you know, Jake and I are on a side street unpacking the cargo bin, taking out items we need for the stay, and putting all the stuff from the cargo bin, back into the car. I’m surprised we didn’t get robbed!

Mind you, we are trying to do all this with Cassie and Ella too!

Eventually, I turned to Jake and was like “I’m going to have a meltdown”.

It was so stressful as we couldn’t leave the car with all our stuff but couldn’t leave Cassie in the apartment without her crate. Alex ended up staying with Cassie in the apartment while Jake and I took turns making a trip up to his apartment. We then hiked the cargo bin up to his apartment. An hour later, we were all settled in.

Now we know to check clearance levels when traveling across states. If we weren’t so quick on our feet, it could have been much worse.

Story #3: Stranded 2,500+ miles Away from Home

Story three was by far the scariest and most uneasy travel situation we were put in.

When we arrived at our new place in Montana, we were looking around and the place was disgusting. There were stains and dirt all over the floor and countertops. There were even hens living in the house… HENS! It was so bad that Cassie was eating things off the floor. Who knows what she was trying to eat.

Jake and I knew we were not going to be able to stay there, especially with my allergies. We both were trying not to panic but we just drove 42 hours to our new home, and we might be homeless. We also didn’t know anyone living in MT to potentially help. Bozeman is such a hot spot right now, that everything was out of our price range, or places weren’t available especially with such short notice.

Half an hour after googling and calling family, Jake posted on a Facebook group we joined awhile back about housing/renting in Bozeman.

We got some hits right away but everything people had available was out of our budget. Finally, one guy messaged us about a cabin that we could potentially rent for a few months that was slightly over budget but nothing unmanageable.

We talked to him on the phone to get a little more insight on the place and it sounded great, so we decided to go for it. We really didn’t have any other option. When we got to the cabin, it was a little up in the mountains and it was so cute and cozy. Jake and I loved it the second we saw it.

We really lucked out in this situation!

Story #4: Canadian Border Mishap

As I’m typing up some of these stories, it’s starting to seem like I’m the problem with run ins with the authorities while traveling. Jake and I were on our first ever road trip to the Adirondacks in New York and then headed to Montreal, Canada where we got stopped at the border crossing.

I used to drive from Maine to Michigan multiple times a year when I was going to and from college. So, I was pretty used to going through the Canadian border.

Since I was a “pro”, I decided I could be the one to drive through and talk with the border patrol agents.

Next thing you know, our car is pulled to the side while they’re searching it. When they asked me if I had any pepper spray, I told them I did not thinking anything of it. I’m also a terrible liar, so if I had said “no” they would have known something was up.

They confiscated my pepper spray, and we were on our way! They did take our ID and I had to fill out a form and sign it indicating I was trying to bring pepper spray into Canada.

I do find myself to be an intelligent person but apparently, I just have bad luck with security.

Tune in this weekend to hear about the farmers market we went to and our race! Hopefully we’ll be trying a new restaurant as well.