A random and pointless aikido story for the day...
So my parents near Baltimore, and it just so happens that my Sensei will be teaching a seminar in Baltimore the same weekend as my dad's birthday. I decided to fly down to participate in both.
While I've attended a few seminars at other dojos, I've never flown to one before, and so for the first time, I had to ask the question: can I take my bokken as a carry-on, or would I have to check it (which I loathe doing, especially when I'm only going away for a weekend)? I surveyed the opinions of my coworkers, who weren't sure one way or the other, and texted one of my friends with a black belt (he'd never tried one way or the other).
I was checking my airlines guidelines when I discovered that the TSA has a "Can I bring it?" tool on their website, and it even recognized the word "bokken". Answer: no. Pretty much all martial arts weapons are apparently no-go for carry on baggage, but they are allowed as checked baggage.
I was just ridiculously amused that the TSA has an app for that, and that it recognized what a bokken was.
And so concludes the pointless aikido story of the day.
