Recently I attempted to make a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days.  This is mostly complete but I was surprised by how few travel related items there are.  When I was younger travelling was the thing I longed to do.  And I know, that compared to many, I travel a lot but in many ways it has lost both its fun and mystery.

This morning I was in Schiphol airport in Holland.  I arrived in a mess of people all trying to get boarding cards in an area where they were checking in flights for 12 airlines.  When I finally got a machine it couldn’t find my reservation.  So, I went and queued for a desk only to be told it was the wrong desk.  I could go on but that would nearly be as boring as the hour I spent sorting everything out.

I finally arrived at the gate where they carry out a security check.  I wanted to take off my boots – as they make the machine beep – but they didn’t want me to do this.  After I beeped they wanted to do a body check.  This was really unpleasant.  They girl actually ran her hands all over my chest and then checked under the wire of my bra!  No-one has ever done that before.  And to make it even more uncomfortable the people sitting waiting to board were watching her do this.

It’s gotten to the stage where I really dislike airports.  I have started to dread going to them.  Not surprisingly this is putting me off travelling.