Late summer greetings from the magnificent train station of Berlin Hauptbahnhof, which has the appearance of a futuristic universal travel centre, with its tubular glass lifts, its array of stainless steel moving stairways feeding multiple levels and a healthy selection of services.
Most trains appear to operate to a time precisioned and extremely well organised stress free system, without any evasive security checks whatsoever. The whole experience for the traveller is fluid, hassle free and convenient. So why is it that travel through an airport these days is so inconvenient, stressful and sometimes leaves one with a degrading feeling?
Trains carry hundreds of passengers, they frequently cover cross border routes, the main terminals cater for thousands of people and yet no intrusive or security or paranoia about liquids exists.
I am not campaigning for more security in train stations; on the contrary, I am saying we have gone too far in airports and I am calling for a more intelligent, less intrusive, sensible big picture approach. Everytime we succumb and are fearful enough to build a fortress somewhere like an airport, the terrorists have won another battle and they gain free publicity of fear. The loser is the average man or woman that through the hyped up fear factor allows Governments to erode general liberty and freedom (the very thing they are supposed to protect) and the cost in addition to all that extra inconvenience has to be swallowed.
The average innocent traveller in reality can do little to improve their plight at airports to reverse the trend, as authorities seem not to care about the consumer in this case.
Subsequently, the average innocent traveller is left with one realistic option in the form of damage limitation, by navigating through security at airports, following the path of least resistance.
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