Vamifesto

TRAVEL IN A TURBULENT WORLD.

(First published: circa Mid-2018)

Travel in a troubled, sometimes treacherous time. How…’igmobiling’: For today we see senseless shootings from coast to coast, terror attacks across borders worldwide. Most recently, steel fencing around the fireworks shows, metal detectors on the National Mall: These are perilous times for easy, footloose travel, near and far—even as travelers are under high-tech surveillance like never before, purportedly in the name of our safety and security.

Commotion: Beyond that, the usual tourism roadways are standstill jammed; same old tourist destinations are overrun, doomed to lemming, selfie hell. Cherished sites are being desecrated and/or loved to death. Petrol per-gallon prices have peak-season risen via the standard supply-line excuses, as the transition from fossil fuels to clean, green energy sources advances incrementally in the face of nagging governmental and legacy industry resistance. Moreover, alternative means and modes (yes, including the advent of autonomous and robotic vehicles) struggle for traction, on-demand platforms face growing pains, long-run rail routes such as Amtrak wither on the Congressional budgetary vine.

Bipolar Re/Demotility: Meanwhile the mighty and moguls go island hopping deluxe, while lowly migrants die at sea. Now, between these extremes emerges a travel sweet spot that is so meekly, meagerly covered and championed in the trite, turgid tourism media of today. Clearly, this mobility morass begs concerted, proactive traveler remediation and our leveraged reassertion of rights.

INDIGNITIES: Trifling to Stifling, Afoot and Aloft.

Rise to Mobilize: For starters, let’s consider air wars, present and recently past. As in enough is far too much. So enough with the terminal herding, the TSA browbeating and shootouts, data-gathering surveillance, false security alerts. We must transcend the checkpoint kabuki, false watchlists, invasive wands, pat-down fondles, full-body and cavity searches. Let us get beyond the tarmac delays, baggage losses/mangling and clipper/bottle confiscations. We can fly above metal detector misfire, taser bracelets and tighter re-screenings; the groundless, premature evacuations and sudden cancellations; above humiliating, radiating scans, disease (e.g., Ebola, Zika) scares and gateside grilling.

It is high time to push back on larded fees, cramped, unhealthy seats, toxic cabins, unruly passengers and crews, and non-stop overcrowding. To contend with open-carry and concealed-carry without getting carried away stone cold. To correct the service/ safety/securing imbalance—whatever the situation, destination and mode. That is, it is high time to jettison the futility and grouchiness, make our travels safer and saner again, to travel the Vamigré way…

TRAVEL AMID TERRORISM: Alerting vs. Alarming.

Past perspective and context: Make no mistake: There isn’t any forgetting London 2005-2007, Sharm el Sheikh, suicide bombers or 9/11 horrific images of hijacked jetliners turned into projectile weapons—nor untold other flights that have been nearly so destroyed. There is no minimizing the nightmare footage of New York’s toppling towers, a grisly rural Pennsylvania crash site, the Pentagon ablaze—nor Malaysia Airlines disasters—much less dangers that may still be fomented by terrorists/ terror groups stateside, worldwide (Boston, Paris, Istanbul, et al). To be sure, there is no dishonoring the heartbreaking images of terrorism’s many victims, the stories of mid-air heroism, as on United Flight 93.

Still, significant red lines have been crossed. Never before had modern commercial airliners been skyjacked, aimed and flamed like projectile missiles. Nor had the entire American airspace been summarily shut down, a U.S. President ever issued standing military orders to shoot down terrorist-commandeered aircraft, including civilian flights. Working flight crew members have since been murderously attacked with FAA-permitted, easily packable Mace and small blades. So now that the World Trade Center site has become a politicized memorial, and copycat crazies have since flown private planes into other cities’ high-rises, it is time to take the unfriendly skies, this treacherous new airborne world head on.

SECURITY OVERKILL: Fearmongers’ Phantom Protection Racket.

Indeed, travel since 9/11 has forever changed. Most everyone involved is annoyed, apprehensively on-guard; airports have become stifling armed camps. Terminals that once were shining bastions of freedom and mobility are now jam-packed gauntlets of maximum security frisking, scanning and shakedowns—of screening mob scenes, forced sleepovers and DARPA/Big Brother tracking. Once finally aloft, planes may fly under a cloud of fear, discomfort, pressure-testy crew, air rage eruptions and white-knuckle foreboding. Rail and bus stations can be no less chaotic, and explosively oppressive. Treasured destinations are desecrated by car and suicide bombs—or with razor-wire, chain-link fencing and bollard barriers—with armed troop checkpoints and camouflaged Humvees.

But beyond the ‘preventative’ hassle factors, air security remains iffy, and travelers are no longer treated as respectable citizens/consumers but prima facie suspects—essentially through no fault of our own.

GOVERNMENT+TOURISM INDUSTRY = Travelers Getting Double-Teamed.

More recent history: Blindsided by 9/11 via late, faulty intelligence and lax, porous security, the U.S. Government has been vastly overreaching ever since. Be it the DHS, TSA, FAA, FBI or CIA—searches, high alerts, video analytics and citizen/visitor clampdowns have become a stiflingly familiar fact of American life. Starting with that unprecedented grounding of U.S. Flights, travel has been the primary victim of terrorism attacks. Police K-9 checkpoints, armed troop patrols, disrupted holidays: Air terminals, popular landmarks (e.g., Washington D.C.), events from Mardi Gras to the Olympics, even museums, and concerts have turned from pleasurable to guardedly painful experiences—with scant relief in sight, and many securicrats bent on keeping it that way.

Early casualties in this endless ‘War on Tourrorism’ were pre-boarding passes, curbside check-ins, carry-on luggage, and on-time arrivals/departures that new technology/app advances are only beginning to address. The mission-conflicted Federal Aviation Administration remains on the GAO hot seat over past security, safety and maintenance shortfalls, disgruntled staff and contractors, plus air controller privatizing, new tech (W.A.A.S.) flaws and costly NextGen satellite system delays. Former chiefs issued Draconian air travel regulations on everything from bag checks to passenger and employee profiles, yet current heads continue to abide serious security lapses in their own facilities.

Then came presidents cheerleading Americans to get traveling again while downplaying air traffic and boarding/deplaning woes—the mantra: be patriotic tourists and “Ambassadors of American Values”. Meanwhile, attorneys general and Homeland Security czars, proceeded to scare the bejeebers out of everyone, conjuring up every paranoid doomsday scenario, including suitcase nukes—pushing to nail, strip everything down. Security gap: Placing the onus of these measures on the people they were purporting to motivate, administrations have since cut year-to-year transportation, air traffic control, security and screen budgets.

Former Department of Transportion Secretary Norman Mineta once chimed in with, “Patience is the new patriotism” as air terminal lines backed up longer and longer—due to more diligent bag screening, personal data swiping/sharing , armed field/sky marshals and bomb-sniffing dogs. Security breach: Soon Homeland Security and the TSA—Washington’s fear factory, had scarecrowed a perpetual terror-event protection racket (complete with BDOs), while in fact spiking intelligence critical to saving the day.

Even more counterproductive was Congress, which held traveler safety hostage for two anxious months over federalizing vs. private sector airport baggage screeners. Republicans prevailed against the prospect of some 40k more unionized government workers and/or contractors. The then beleaguered airline and tourism industries lobbied intensively against costly security regulation, yet for federal aid. Floor battles over screener citizenship/education, and private security firms, stalled the highly politicized air safety bill even further, compromise legislation finally increasing federal oversight at a budget-busting cost (with a computer-hacked, pilots-castigating ATC system, aviation ticket fund-squandering Federal Aviation Administration, already in an over $3.5B hole). Again, the bulk of the tab was passed on to us travelers—via a surcharge and/or ticket tax, precursor to added nickel & dime-to-dollar airline industry fees to come.

FREEDOM vs. FEARDOM: Vagabondage to Excessive TSA Shadowboxing.

And yet the controversy had just begun, while airport bedlam continued coast to coast. Stepped up frisking, positive bag matching, hand checking, gate bans, passport clampdowns, car and near strip-searching of purely innocent travelers: Add to that laptop bans and tons of confiscated electronics, devices, tweezers, safety razors, corkscrews (even though scissors and 4”-7” tools are now permitted) piling up.

Such arbitrarily severe security measures and ever-ratcheting terror directives ravaged on-time flight schedules, grounded busy terminals to an exasperating halt. The dubious goal was to emulate Israel’s El Al uber-security methods, but the prevailing image was innocent jacketless travelers in stocking feet, wanded arms stretched sorely outward in crucifix mode. And while genuine terror threats continue to plague us, the U.S. evidently isn’t under such unrelenting Middle Eastern siege.

Once aloft, travelers soon faced the turbulent inflight issues of steel-caged cockpits and fortified doors, cabin/cockpit cams, and utensil-free snacks. Will pistol-packing pilots be covertly armed with live ammunition and frangible bullets or TASER guns; harried stewards and stewardesses with pepper spray or martial combat training? What about frustrated, trigger-happy sky marshals? Weaponized food carts, passenger vigilantism—glass cockpit flight by wire? In any case, yesterday’s fun, friendly skies were and are now stormy airscapes of crew-customer confrontation, simmering air rage, mutual suspicion: Add in overworked flight crews and line employees with sinking pay, job security and morale. No wonder anxieties over RNAV, runway safety, ATC close-calls, shifting weather/climate patterns or medical/disease woes (DVT, onboard air/water and communicable outbreaks, etc.) continue unabated today. 

 RIGHTS of PASSAGE: Curbed on a Technicality.

Nor were landings much happier, as misspent airport security taxied in on increasingly shakier ground. Knives, pistols, other contraband and unattended bags continued slipping through transitory, poorly screened screeners. From Logan and LaGuardia to LAX, flight cancellations and terminal evacuations became routine. This, over such misperceived threats as nail clippers, toy grenades, fertilizer-packed footwear, X-raying breast milk and Atlanta/Hartsfield’s infamous gate runner, jailed and sued because he feared missing his flight to his alma mater’s football game.

Before long, the alarming frequency of security breaches, the financial drain, the contrived drumbeat of homeland alerts (mostly ‘chatterbox’ inspired), began wearing on travelers and tourists alike. To this day, passengers shuffle through a maze of suspect airport scrutiny; flight attendants complain of screeners’s groping pat-downs and other abuses during flight-crew searches (as ramp personnel went unscreened). National Guardsmen were armed to the teeth yet bored to tears; F-16s overlogged more aimless hours; bomb dogs sniffed their typical hour or so before nosing out, dog tired.

No less perplexing were shrouded, legal and lobby-harried Nation Transportation Safety Board crash investigations (e.g., Airbus tail rudders, Dreamliner batteries) that dragged on unresolved for months and years as all sides lawyer up—or NTSB-FAA turf wars. Adrenaline depletion: Warnings took on political undertones, security holes persisted, genuine alerts misconnected, security/screening budgets were busted, anarchist types testily planted onboard contraband, patriot patience wore thinner and thinner, to where we stand exasperatedly today.

Moreover, no number of technological advances seemed truly ready to provide short-term relief: whether RNP navigation, portal metal detectors, CTX, ASDI-X, infrared, shoe scanners, or plasmographs, particle sniffers, body-trace detectors or anti-missile devices. Nor are see-through luggage, RFID designs, SPOT Behavior Observation, ID scan-cards. And the full promise/scourge of biometrics—digital face recognition, iris scanning, BPR or fingerprint/passport reading—remains distant, at best. Still, deadlines for 100% checked-bag scanning have passed, with the largely rudderless TSA conceding there are not enough explosive detection/computer-tomography systems for all airports here and abroad.

DE-REG vs. RE-REG; UNCIVIL AVIATION: Camera/Joke-Free Zones.

Given all that, the current airport security scenario remains daunting, if not sometimes laughable (e.g., TSA’s key motto: “No Weapons, No Waiting—10 Minute Max”). But Feds and local security apparatchiks still have zero tolerance for humor. In terminal or inflight: crack a joke, got to jail is the order of the day. Past airline ads claiming, “Fly Us For The Fun Of It” seem like quaint artifacts of a distant propwashed era. Now, closed-circuit cameras and monitors proliferate, as in London, recording the public’s every move in cabins, airports, public sites and city streets alike—indeed, suppressing the very icons of American freedom into cold world electronic surveillance mode. Yet travelers shooting their own video of this most ubiquitous security blanket have since 9/11 been subject to arrest for violating federal law, if not for an apparent affront to the Transportation Strangulatory Administration.

All such overzealous, inconsistent counterterrorism has left us travelers discontent, disoriented, bomb scared, gun shy, violated, vulnerable and resentful of all the intrusions. Yet we are reluctant to present anything but acquiescent happy (if not computer-recognized) faces to the news media and tourism industry, for fear of pull-aside profiling, boarding denial, if not full Patriot Act recrimination.

Indeed, the fine line between ‘homeland security’ and travel liberties and freedom of movement is dissipating like airborne contrails. But questions remain: Why, how long must innocent travelers disproportionately bear the burden of events (real and threatened) so beyond our control? Why are we paying such a heavy handed price for this security facade? How did we get from Passenger Bill of Rights legislation to passengers being steamrolled by the Department of Transportation into continually footing the bill?

RESULT: Tourism, Demise by Strangulation.

Little wonder many skittish, budget-strapped travelers have stayed grounded, since even a $6.5B federal bailout and fare fire sales hadn’t been enough to fully pull the airline industry out of its long fiscal free fall. It has taken onerous carrier fees and surcharges to begin doing that, piled on along with lippy customer service and confusing-to-misleading consumer communication—to market segmenting contrivances such as ‘basic economy’ fares.

Some 30 years after airline deregulation, these cyclical, low-margin, high fixed-cost operations remain essentially caught between revenue-draining fleet, insurance, CEO/labor, volatile jet fuel costs, and the controlling strings attached to any further governmental aid. Losing upwards of $54B in 2000-2010, penny and fuel-pinching carriers consolidate, fold—warn markets as how more legacy majors may soon fail—even beseech galled travelers to push for legislative airline relief.

Thus T/T industry layoffs/overwork have been rampant, labor relations combative, flight schedules and capacity pared. Even travel agent commissions succumb to more direct (and paperless) reservations and ticketing. Airlines delay plane leases/orders and onboard guidance safety systems; tanker, hoarding gates, sneak in those surcharges. They game play fares (e.g., hidden city, Saturday night stays) and non-refundable tickets, a la carte pricing; slash service/amenities, peddle customer data, squeezing passengers (slim seats/stiffening pitch) at every turn. Maintenance, safety shortfalls (e.g., uncertified outsourcing) aren’t far behind—while FAA whistleblowers say carriers, airports balk at security costs, lobby to stall “burdensome” reforms.

Delta and other nervous legacies consolidate, hedge fares, staff—piling on fees and debt. While once bankrupt, United targeted overseas and business travel, and has faced pension strife and strikes since absorbing Continental. American/TWA neared Chapter 11 despite union givebacks; gutted capacity, service, pay, and maintenance to advance a low-fare plan. America West-USAir and others got the oversight attached to dubious ‘fedfare’ subsidies. Carriers such as Midway, ATA, Frontier banked in and out of Chapter 11; Independence Air, Vanguard, Skybus are long gone. Worldwide, state-run airlines fare little better (especially Air Canada, Swissair, etc.). In turn, major jet-makers Boeing and Airbus dogfight, undercut, outsource components/assembly to economically produce the likes of 787s and A-380s.

Still, while many mainline carriers merge to strengthen (e.g., Delta-NWA), few maintain basic pre-9/11 standards of passenger service. Curiouser yet, lean low-fare start-ups, now 3%+ of U.S. Flights, hold steadier as costs (mainly fuel) fluctuate by the day. Eschewing played-out hub & spoke systems for streamlined point-to-point routes and satellite airports, fee-less Southwest comparatively soars—ditto AirTran, Alaska/Virgin America, Spirit, Jet America, WestJet—even currently troubled Allegiant Air. So too, JetBlue (+Avolar, Tiger, Muse, Volaris; plus Europe’s ultra-competitive Ryanair, ClickAir, Sky, easyJet, Norwegian; Icelandic’s (though wobbly) Wow Air, etc.). All order clean new co2/NOX fuel-efficient planes, as legacy carriers mothball aged, higher carbon-emitting aircraft in Arizona and the Mojave Desert, now belatedly loading up on single-aisle intermediate range planes the likes of stretch 737s and A310s.

Yet even dynamic LCCs and ULCCs must realize travel is not just a load factor, yield management numbers game, but a true people-first pursuit. That travel should be the fun, convivial way-to-go it once was—especially since the airline industry lost more money in seven years ($40B+) than it had made altogether over the past 45—that is, before rebounding so dramatically on the backs of feelty laden travelers. Still, it remains to be seen which air carriers regain and/or sustain profitability, merge—are strong or fatally squeezed over the long haul, beyond today’s low-fare/high fee and favorable fuel-cost environment. Particularly as European airlines face a competitive capacity glut and the turbulence of a short haul shake-out (beginning with UK’s Monarch Airline).

DESTINATION ‘DISPERSION’: Behold the Roads Less Traveled—(DSD) Do Something Different. 

Meanwhile, certain air terminal shops, restaurants and other concessions, as well as terminal expansion, may continue to suffer (especially without increased Essential Air Service to ward off airlines’ abandoning of midsize or smaller airports) as wary travelers seek alternative means. Some opt for charter jets or pricier PAVs, but many other travelers are just staying on terra firma. Post 9/11, rail and bus stations have been thronged at levels not seen since the 1940s. If only these surface transportation modes were much better prepared.

Instead, ever-underfunded AMTRAK meets rising public demand with incessant route and service cutting, as Congress and its Amtrak Reform Council a partisan budget battle to reorganize or disband the national passenger rail system altogether—amid the D.C. melodrama of Amtrak’s ‘imminent demise’. Save for the northeast (e.g., Acela) corridor, Amtrak trains, even popular west coast runs, chug along behind schedule on ravaged, freight-owned roadbeds (e.g., Florida’s auto-train crash) with spottily modernized rolling stock, when high-speed service in Europe and Japan bullet along smoothly at 160+ mph. Such broader U.S. service remains literally years away, derailed by disingenuous arguments that air and highway systems are not similarly subsidized.

Clearly, unprofitable Amtrak can’t go on losing over $1B/yr. But severing long-distant routes is no answer, nor is carving the system into a mish-mash of state and regional routes. And privatizers might look to the U.K.’s Railtrack, which nearly derailed British service altogether. No, the answer is increased federal subsidization ($8B for intercity starters), plus greater investment in infrastructure, crash-resistant roadbeds and Trans-rapid-quality equipment (with positive traffic signal control and maglev technology), and exploiting such fresh opportunities as air-rail links and land cruises. Further, rail systems worldwide must sensibly upgrade train/station security, particularly after the Tokyo chemical attack, the Madrid and other European terrorist bombings.

As to motorcoaches, the terror of a Greyhound driver throat slitting and fatal bus crash illustrates that highway travel has perils of its own. Yet domestic short and long-haul bus service carries deeper problems: lax safety, runaway tour buses; random police searches, disgruntled, fatigued drivers; unappealing terminals, overloaded, unruly cabins; wayward itineraries and distasteful rest stops—even on the most pleasantly scenic routes. Sadly, the TSA’s station security measures will do little to enhance this experience. Problem is, image-buffed Greyhound still has a firm grip on U.S. Routes and lowest-cost travel, save Megabus or Redbus, with little motivation to improve its service/security absent concerted passenger pressure. Such consumer activism (beyond Trip Advisor rants) must begin with a demand for more regional alternatives and ticket/class stratification. Ergo a speedier, less congested, better served option in plusher coaches. Attractive routes with quality food, stops, Wifi: a premium service alternative to old smoky curbside carriers and hassle-jammed airplanes.

What’s more, given cruise ship hazards (fires, piracy, viruses, bad food, crews, navigation), a question: Why not ‘leave the driving to us’? Recurring gas pains and over-trafficked highways, soaring fatality rates, DUI road checks, etc., that is why. Big Oil’s patriotic response int the way of 9/11 was to price gouge, backing off only upon Congressional threat. Since then, pump prices have yo-yo’d between egregious peaks and patches of deceptive relief—particularly during slower winter months—primed and timed to skyrocket again in the next summer driving season.

With offshore blowout spills, geologically disruptive fracking and pipeline disputes—oily, fossilized politicos in Washington, six refiners rigging over 60% of the U.S. Market, and OPEC, etc. still reigning worldwide, this gas price rigging syndrome will persist unless consumers coalesce and resist the oiligopoly. No amount of auto rental packages (rates up 45%), on-demand mobility services, vehicle sharing, carpools, shuttles, fuel banking, hot/smart $$$ lanes, mile taxing, motorcycling or mini SUVs will break this viscous circle, minus some strategic traveler retooling.

To that end, one bright sign is the advent of alternative fuel vehicles. Whether electric (ZEV, Smart, Volt, Tesla) or various hybrids like Honda Insight, Toyota Prius, Ford Fusion or PZEVs, they promise a cleaner, more efficient way out of this foul dependency, but the road will be fraught with switchbacks. And the beauty of these hybrid/EV developments is, even should pump prices decline, the way is inexorably paved for more fuel-efficient internal combustion vehicles—especially the cooler, more stylish, and powerfully hotter ones.

Add this latest: auto recalls (especially GM), Congress’s defeat of higher truck/SUV mileage standards, and the industry dodge of dual-fuel technology in favor of a fuel-cell placebo that is years away. Yet such issues (plus speed cameras/guns, crash data recorders, autonomous robocars, faulty airbags, etc.) impact carshare services, rental rates, road/infrastructure conditions, how/where we travel—plus air and water quality at world destinations.

vs. DESTINATION DESECRATION: Trashing Treasures, Tourism Alike.

The result of these checkpoints, roadblocks, fence it in/block it off’s, militarized police forces and other reactionary desecration: tourism has been in wobbly downdraft. Having suffered visitor slowdowns in a recession/post recession economy, destinations worldwide, reeling since 9/11, until most recently have suffered even more. Traditionally popular tourist standbys, hot spots and ghettos, facing widespread traveler resistance, violent uprisings and natural disasters (Gulf, etc.), have offered kickbacks, sought federal and local bailouts or tax relief.

The Travel Industry of America waves the patriotic flag for renewed tourism. Inns, B&Bs, hotels, souvenir shops, cruise lines and tour groups alternately fleece and discount heavily, packaging vast unsold ‘inventory’ with airfares, rail passes, gas cards and car rentals in attempts to stave off red-letting (even in Hawaii). Travel/tourism industry job losses (still) obtain—even as the industry rebounds overall. Disneyland, SeaWorld, gambling casinos (multiplier-ineffective as they pathologically are) and other faux-away places are likely to continue facing visitor and revenue dips over the long haul; DHS/TSA scouring of passenger/visitor lists still not helping in the least.

Meanwhile cities, states, countries and (smoky, pilfered) parks—Ground Zero to Maldive—employ massive promotional efforts to pitch their modestly recovering tourism sectors. Still, no slick civic cheerleading can easily overcome the hassle/hazard factors, terrorism threats, fear of leaving and flying, strangling insurance costs, gouging hotel/motels, diminishing local air service—plus tsunamis, health scares, rising crime rates, open/concealed carry weapons laws, ancient historical site destruction, heritage site privatization ploys and pollution afflicting many destinations—U.S., worldwide. Their grim edict: “Go, get tourism going again. But don’t laugh or joke—just stay submissively in line, watch what you say, carry and wear”.

Enduring Middle East unrest only amplifies the traveler trepidation already rampant—North America (Florida, Texas and SoCal) to Europe (e.g., London and Paris) Africa, Bali, Indonesia, Mobasa and oil-wracked Lebanon. Moreover, given traveler abductions and wartime looting, wanton defiling of destinations, what is truly left worth visiting? For there is no easily glossing over border tightenings/bans, terrorist advisories, troop-patrolled bridges; firearmed, understaffed parks or customs/daypack searches. Besides, travel isn’t about moving tourism ‘inventory’ anyway—much less cheap, self-serving boosterism.

STRATEGIES FOR TRUER TRAVEL: De-Tour and “Cheaty Cheaque”, Not Cheap.

Rather, genuine Vamigré travel is more about how one spends time than money, and there’s no simple financial rebounding from that: ergo, “The best, most rewarding travel experience for time, energy and money expended”. Again, pivot point: now is a watershed moment in travel history. Perhaps the end of tourism as we have known it can be the birth of a truer, purer, activist spirit of travel (even future astrotravel). From here forward, keenly dispersive travel experience will rule, not simply mindless tourist expenditures, often taking the lesser, yet fresher road. That point being: It’s not just where we go, but what we do en route and when we get there.

Further, this means travelers may now have the often contemptuous, predatory tourism/ megatourism industries by the throat. So with airports, rail/bus stations and destinations turned into armed, adversarial camps, travelers must develop strategies to uplift and upgrade (e.g., seating, stayovers), to take back their streets and skies (not merely by ‘defensive packing’, smart bags). With post-Concorde airplane cabins reduced to ‘Conair’ ordeals, only real traveler solidarity and cooperation can keep cabin fever, paranoia tension, safety fears and air rage at bay.

Given the TSA’s scheme to divide and conquer via plainclothes air marshals, and prodding travelers to look for fellow passengers hell-bent on weaponizing the plane, we must remain alert without resorting to cabin-camera spying, or anarchic counter-violence. Since diligence and surveillance are bidirectional via our ubiquitous high-definition smartphone cameras—we can capture the world we witness, vividly, colorfully, creatively—sharing those visions and vistas with fellow Vamigres, tasked with fulfilling the fundamental Vamigré triad: Inspiration, Information, Implementation.

Beyond that, Vamigrés need galvanize to pit carrier against carrier, Big Air versus upstarts, fine-print fares and fare hikes vs. service (e.g., bump strategies/compensation, schedule spreading, ticket dishonoring), paper vs. e-kiosk and other paperless ticketing; airport vs. airport (e.g., fees, runway length, layovers, terminal facilities, connecting flights, etc.), U.S. vs. foreign ownership, mode vs. mode, lodging vs. lodging vs. share services, currency vs. currency, country vs. country, region vs. region, city vs. city vs. exurban/rural towns.

Moreover, Big Oil vs. indie fuel, guidebooks vs. online and tour guides, carriers vs. travel agents. As for Web travel, pitting off-line vs. online ticketing—playing carrier sites off intermediaries such as Orbitz, Expedia, Kayak and the lesser sort.; full-service vs. prepaid passes vs. auctions vs. bucket discounters. In the process, a full workable CLEAR Registered Traveler smartcard/insurance system must ensue. These and other hi-tech measures are more critical, as fares, fees, taxes and pump prices ebb, rise anew—gridlocked roads/skies return with a vengeance.

CLOSE: Genuine Travel in a Wilder, Wicked World.

Resolved: Now that we innocent, unwitting travelers have suffered their unfair share of shutdowns, sardine flights, tarmac sieges, sudden cancellations, bumping, refund/upgrade gouging, lost bags, bird strikes, terminal sleepovers and re-screenings—while being fee charged and overtaxed for it all—it’s time for an alternative route.

When passengers are strapped into uncleaned planes for surveillance on cabin cameras, their personal information is spilled to authorities, while carriers further squeeze routes, capacity and those very passengers to boost yields and profits, the time has come for a course correction. When basic civil and travel liberties take a back seat to such security overkill as ‘Crying Wolf’ alerts, false flags, concrete barriers, invasive searches/profiling, Foggy Bottom passport snooping and visa snag-nets—when safety/security concerns stranglehold spontaneity—a sea change is surely in order.

Further resolved: When vacation-squeezed travelers stay put despite all that super-security—still fearful of toxic cabins, hazardous cargo, perilous runways, near-misses, taxi-out (rage)—of being skyjacked, shot down, stranded, cabin trapped or car bombed—it is time to clear the (enviro) air, assume the controls, travel as we never have before. Because with travelers being so ill served, mal-treated by the government and lobbying tourism industry, we are now clearly fending for ourselves.

So it is also time we stop pliantly rolling over, time to speak up as situations arise. Point being, we travelers are not the enemy, and must stop being gassed, harassed, hectored, behavior profiled and watchlisted, herded and railroaded as though we were. Indeed, we’re no longer to be seen as cowering, hapless gringo/ pigeons, but smart, globetrotting citizens ever active, seizing the initiative, embracing the mobile imperative, open to the world—to the rush and romance of genuine travel again.

So here we are, good to go…deserving better—with far better value. Whatever the U.S. dollar/other currency rates, the mercurial modern world still beckons, while America is now on sale, even though security nooses keep tightening from all directions. Come travel hell, record-setting complaints, bailouts, blackouts, high anxiety or stormy weather, we are going to go, but not by being tour packaged, sent packing in hordes.

That is, the tourism industry, unsafe cruise ships, gas pump gougers, angry or alcohol riddled crews, pirates/terrorists worldwide, baggage mishandlers, retiring air traffic controllers, deceptive tourism ads, industry hacks, cashless air cabins are all on notice. Security cops, air/sea marshals, and other Homeland goons with weapons of mass disruption, must stop the fearism, travel bans, National Park Service cutbacks. Must cease and desist the bureau bickering over Secure Flight, FAA-NTSB turf battles, packing rules, X-ray cargo scanning, congestion pricing and Next Gen GPS/ATC.

Bottom line: The voiceless pity planes and trains have left the station. Meaning, get used to us, because we will not only be watching for trouble, but watching the watchers. And if some people, modes or places are sorely an eyeful, we will Vamigrate elsewhere…