@trotsky: Italian Airport Security is dreadful and took my *tripod (weapon my ass - and how come LAX and the Swiss let me keep it on the way to Italy!?) So I'm totally experiencing tripod envy. At least I insured my camera gear - a good reminder to call them.
*I could have checked it for 110 Euros, which at the moment is something like $185. Um... no.
@zoem: Italy was so awesome except for taking my tripod (the Swiss scanned my camera a second time but they didn't take my camera - they really would have heard something loud and nasty if they tried). Oh, and if I ate as much as Italians do my stomach would seriously explode. I really have no idea how they manage to stay so fit because most of them had the fabulous bodies and my tummy and booty didn't shrink one bit. *glares jealously* Even with living on the fourth floor and not using a car for getting anywhere for a month. *pouts*
I can't believe LAX let you have a tripod and Italy took it. Metro (Detroit) took my mom's lotion and toothpaste. They took it out and threw it away in front of her. Which I think is a little bit absurd.
I don't even know if terrorists would even need to deal with Detroit. This city pretty much destroys itself.
Yeah, we figured, if LAX wouldn't let me take it then my parents would just take it home and I'd be fine. If they let me take it, than short of traveling to somewhere like Israel, no one would really care. I was surprised how strict European security is in airports. Apparently Germany is particularly bad. (Or so my roommate said.)
Interestingly, often in museums I had to go through a metal detector but they would let me draw (even with pen), and they were often much less particular about cameras (especially since tourists are particularly stupid and excessively use flash when taking pictures of frescos and paintings that are a couple hundred years old. *head-desk*) I really almost came to appreciate the museum personnel who would inevitably be running toward the idiot tourist yelling "no flash no flash".
Fortunately I insured my camera gear - tripod included, so I'm hoping that'll cover it. edit to add: It seems that airlines have gotten even more strict with just about everything - there were lots of other travelers who hadn't gotten their tickets before June 1st and were paying for their second checked bag. It's very surreal - once I was on the airplane the entire experience was almost delightful - on my long flight I had my own person screen and movies (and etc) to choose from, they were constantly feeding us with fairly decent food. But once we were back in the ground and in the airports again - quite miserable.