staffs/sticks on planes

[Robert E. Spenger]

This year I brought telescoping trekking poles and they fit easily in my
checked baggage. Last year I didn't bring a walking staff, but picked up
a couple of suitable sticks from the roadside along the way. They were
700 to 800 grams apiece and got a lot of wary looks and some insulting
comments about how ugly they were. I suppose that they did have a sort of
cudgel look about them. The Spanish seem to prefer a slimmer, more
elegant looking staff. In France, however, I saw a statue of a pilgrim
with a staff that was as ugly and gnarly as either of mine. One of these
staffs ended up in a cove of the Atlantic where I tossed from the cape at
Fisterra. I needed the other to get back up the cliff to the lighthouse.
I brought it home with me and, on boarding the aircraft, I asked the
attendant if it needed to be checked as special luggage, as it would not
fit in the checked luggage. She said no, that it would fit all right in
the overhead baggage compartment. Then she said that it was O.K. as long
as I wasn't going to  hit anyone with it. I was surprised at the remark
and was tempted to joke about it, but I was well aware that humor was out
of place there and just said that I wasn't planning on that. The fact
that she was impelled to make such a comment made me wonder if it would
have been more of a problem if I were many years younger and tougher
looking. It seems to be up to the person checking everyone through the
loading gate. I think that some would insist on treating it as special
luggage.

Kevin Collins wrote:

> Anyone have trouble getting walking staffs on aircraft? Either the old
> fashioned wooden carved ones or the snazzy modern telescoping sort?
>
> ________________________
> Free Dimitry
> http://freeskylarov.org/