Reports are that this Thanksgiving's travel was not bad, considering the new airport security surprises the TSA put in place not long before the holiday last year -- perhaps because some just stayed home rather than deal with the birthday suit-revealing scanners or muffin top-revealing searches (that's what our poll showed, anyway). Travelers have figured out how to pack for 2006's PITA airport rules and not too many tubes of toothpaste get tossed at airport security any more. And Christmas travel thus far is busy, but not delayed in the US.
If you'd rather avoid the whole airport scene at Christmas, though, 
you can always try the train. Before you decide to ride the US rails as a travel method, make sure Amtrak's trains go where you want to get with an Amtrak routes map, a trick interactive trip planning atlas online. Check it out -- students get a 15% Amtrak discount, too.
Related Train Travel Reading: Amtrak Pictures | Visit Potential College Campuses with Amtrak's Free Companion Ticket Promotion
Related Air Travel Reading: Packing for Airport Security | What is the New TSA X-Ray Scanner? | Which Airports Have Backscatter or X-Ray Scanners? | Comment: Will You Walk Through a Full Body Imaging Scanner At an Airport? | Have You Opted Out of Scanner and Had a TSA Patdown? | Airport Security Rules | Laptops and Airport Screening
Archived TSA News: But I Don't Want the TSA to See Me Naked... | TSA Wants to See What You're Packing in More Ways Than One | Another Minor TSA Casualty | TSA Ties IRS in Unpopularity | TSA Blog | Services Mail Banned Airline Items Home | Air Travel Escalating Into Hassle Travel <
Screenshot courtesy Amtrak.com | Student Travel blog home
you can always try the train. Before you decide to ride the US rails as a travel method, make sure Amtrak's trains go where you want to get with an Amtrak routes map, a trick interactive trip planning atlas online. Check it out -- students get a 15% Amtrak discount, too.
Related Train Travel Reading: Amtrak Pictures | Visit Potential College Campuses with Amtrak's Free Companion Ticket Promotion
Related Air Travel Reading: Packing for Airport Security | What is the New TSA X-Ray Scanner? | Which Airports Have Backscatter or X-Ray Scanners? | Comment: Will You Walk Through a Full Body Imaging Scanner At an Airport? | Have You Opted Out of Scanner and Had a TSA Patdown? | Airport Security Rules | Laptops and Airport Screening
Archived TSA News: But I Don't Want the TSA to See Me Naked... | TSA Wants to See What You're Packing in More Ways Than One | Another Minor TSA Casualty | TSA Ties IRS in Unpopularity | TSA Blog | Services Mail Banned Airline Items Home | Air Travel Escalating Into Hassle Travel <
Screenshot courtesy Amtrak.com | Student Travel blog home
Don’t put up with this unconstitutional garbage! Boycott Flying ENTIRELY until sanity returns! Please join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Flying/126801010710392
Don’t fly! No stranger has the right to demand to see you naked or fondle your genitals, no matter what kind of chintzy plastic fake law enforcement badge he wears.
I’m opting out of the whole offensive security theater. That kabuki dance is a depraved farce that is making no one any safer, but it sure is doing a great job of re-victimizing those who have already experienced sexual trauma. Who on earth authorized this madness?
I decided to take Amtrak for my holiday travel. It’s 24 hours each way, but my body is my own and I’ll share it with only people that I choose.
Absolutely, the train is a wonderful way to go. With 500 stations across the country, you just might be surprised at how close Amtrak will get you to your destination.
In addition to the routes map, check out the very cool Station Finder. Just enter your zip code and the closest stations are shown on a map. It’s easy!
“TSA’s 25 “viper” teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response— have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. ” These unannounced checkpoints includes Amtrak!
The TSA is way too expensive for the benefit (unless you overvalue theater). It’s time to end the TSA and pretend the US was really not that stupid to believe TSA was anything more than Keystone cops.