Yes, this really old college ID is me

Today I took the Delta Shuttle for a day of training in our Washington, D.C. office. It was great to board a plane without any luggage; I felt a little glamorous. Whoops, wrong word. Now I am going to have that infernal song stuck in my head.

Anyway, today's flight taught me a valuable lesson: when you feel prompted to grab your passport, do it. I didn't because last I checked Washington, D.C. was not a foreign country. I should have grabbed it because at some point my drivers license fell out of my wallet (or was removed for some reason that escapes me...) and I was at the airport without official identification. I panicked because I didn't really want to go to work all embarrassed about not making the flight. I called one of my coworkers and he suggested that I just ask nicely and show every bit of plastic left in my wallet. I was nice and sweet, and I made my flight after going through extra security. I am not going to tell you which choice piece of plastic got me through the gates because I am certain the Department of Homeland Security would probably not want that information leaked.

Laguardia's extra security was not as extra as Washington's security. I nearly had to find alternate means of transportation, like walking. But since Delta let me come to D.C., they decided I should also go home. But I got to have a little stay in an enclosed area--locked up--and got a complete pat-down. Plus when I boarded the plane the airline person didn't scan my ticket. Probably in case if the plane went down there would be no record of the person with dubious ID.

None of this would have happened if I had grabbed my passport. I would have had a nice, normal, uninteresting trip to Washington, D.C.