Comments on: Vacation-phobia: Top 5 travel fears

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:56:57 +0000

Greatest Travel Fear: Personal Shopping Sprees By TSA Personnel

We arrived home from Hawaii to find the TSA Approved locks on our luggage gone, later finding them inside our luggage damaged and broken by forceful removal (so much for the specially coded TSA keys the TSA inspectors are supposed to use to open the TSA Approved locks).

We then discovered our expensive sunglasses were gone! For whatever reason, the TSA “inspector” didn’t want our sunglass cases, and left them open in our suitcases as a message.

There are so many aspects of travelling that are out of our control and I can deal with most of them. But the TSA and its so-called “security measures” with manually screening luggage, is nothing more than another government approved department allowing the invasion of privacy and five-finger shopping. When will the government create another department to monitor the TSA and its unscrupulous “security searches”?

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:51:49 +0000

My greatest fear is that they show Last Chance Harvey on the flight. I fly a lot at this stinker has been on every flight recently. I got a break this week and instead of Last Chance Harvey they showed Pink Panther 2. Who is in charge of selecting these klunkers, that’s what I think Chris should investigate next.

By: Talking Travel Phobias | Top Trips

Talking Travel Phobias | Top Trips — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:12:10 +0000

[...] her graduation from nursing school with a trip to an all-inclusive resort in Cancun. Read More… Do you like this? Not Yet Rated Related Tags: international, travel [...]

By: Thomas Brenneman

Thomas Brenneman — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:12:29 +0000

1. I’ll be seated on a 16 hour flight next to a non-stop talker.
2. The airlplane will only have blended scotch.
3. The only rental car available will be a min-van.
4. The hotel will only have double beds available.
5. The project will be cancelled and I’ll have to look at all the above again!

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:57:00 +0000

What about fear of being arrested in a foreign country for breaking a law you didn’t know existed? Actually, come to think of it, my biggest fear is having to interact with any kind of law official (traffic cop, passport control) is a foreign language.

By: Chicky

Chicky — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:33:12 +0000

OK. For all you fearful flyers out there: http://www.fearofflyinghelp.com. It’s a FREE online course you can take and speaking as a formerly white-knuckled flyer: it works. It really does. The guy who put it together is a pilot and he did a great job. Full disclosure: I only took the course. I am not in any way affiliated with the instructor or with the airline he works for. However, products are offered for sale on the web site. You are under no obligation to buy, though, and no purchase is required to take the course.

By: Sophie Osborn

Sophie Osborn — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:13:32 +0000

There are trackers to enable identification of luggage when the airline paper tag has been damaged, lost or rendered unreadable – without alerting the unscrupulous to your house being empty by writing your name and address on your case. These were reviewed by Budget Travel magazine and the best was Trace Me Luggage Tracker – a secure property ownership database used by baggage handlers, lost property and law enforcement agencies worldwide. http://tinyurl.com/d7feze

By: Ames

Ames — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:44:47 +0000

Will we live longer by staying home and not facing the “danger” of travel, or will it just seem that way because we are so bored and unhappy? I hope when my time comes I am doing something I truly enjoy. I intend to live until I die. I have also made plans to be cremated and leave my kids some money only to be used to travel. I hope they will leave some of my ashes scattered around the world as they do.

By: Bela Fleck

Bela Fleck — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:01:46 +0000

@Ed. For all the horror stories you read, there are probably a hundred positive ones. Consider the fear of flying due to fear of the plane crashing. That’s my fear. It’s a ridiculous fear. I know flying is safer than a lot of other activities I engage in a lot more often. But telling me to worry about something else is like telling me I should stop brushing my teeth. Ain’t gonna happen. But I don’t let it stop me from flying, even when there are high-profile stories of crashes in the news where no one survives. Because I know there are a lot more that actually make it to their destination with nothing to write home about.

By: Ed Greenberg

Ed Greenberg — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:02:23 +0000

My fear of vacation, largely fueled by reading this column :), is the abuses that are heaped upon travelers.

I was considering my first cruise, but reading the horror stories here and over in Consumerist have dissuaded me from spending any money in that industry.