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Airport Security and Cubes

Kolraz

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I just got back from a week away in Iceland and my experience with the Airport Security checks got me thinking.

Do any cubers who travel a lot to competitions have trouble when taking cubes in their Hand Luggage through the scanner? I got stopped both on my outgoing flight and my return flight.

To say the box full of cubes in my bag kicked up a fuss is a bit of an understatement. My bag went through the scanner several times and 3 staff crowded round the screen to see what it was all about :p The lady then searched my back with rubber gloves.

The whole situation was quite funny to see how much fuss was caused by a few puzzles, but I guess they must look a bit odd through the scanner :D

So anybody else have problems? I imagine it must be quite annoying to have a bag searched on every single flight when travelling to a competition?
 

cmhardw

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My backpack got searched both times I went through the Gatwick airport on the way to and from the 2007 World Competition. Each time it went through the scanner they asked me to step aside to their side area, and someone searched the bag with rubber gloves. Let's just say they gave me strange looks when they pulled out cube after cube after cube after.... ;-) I mentioned the competition each time which helped a bit, but it was still a funny situation I thought :)

Chris
 

panyan

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when i went to bahrain, i had my macbook +charger, 3x3x3, powerball, camera, ipod, electric razor and phone and they didnt bat an eyelid, so much for middle-east security concerns


ALTHOUGH, they put that strong plastic tape on your luggage so it can be tampered with (you know the stuff that comes on large parcels)

now that i reread my post, it has little to do with the thread :p
 

masterofthebass

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I always have my cubes in a separate toolbox, so its quite easy to see what they are. I always know when they look at it through the x-ray, because the person gets a strange look. I just end up saying 'they are rubik's cubes', and then they get what they were seeing. The only issue I had was taking a small screwdriver back from Germany (I left the US with it just fine).
 

PCwizCube

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Does the scanner scan search for metal? Because it would be obvious then, because Rubik's Cubes have metal screws.

This has never happend to me because I've never went on a plane for a Rubik's Cube competition but these stories are so funny :D
 

Kolraz

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Let's just say they gave me strange looks when they pulled out cube after cube after cube

Haha exactly. The man who was looking on the screen almost seemed angry that anyone would bring such a thing through security :) The woman who searched my bag seemed a little more understanding, although I bet they had a good laugh about it after :D
 

CharlieCooper

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I usually carry my cubes all in a separate case when travelling to competitions abroad. It always, always, always causes a fuss. When going to the French open earlier this year, a man started asking what each one was. "It's a Rubik's cube" "And this?" "It's a Rubik's cube" "And this?" "It's a Rubik's cube". I guess it would be a novel way of smuggling things. If anything, it's just annoying to have to rearrange everything in the case, when it's usually so carefully packed before going. I did once have a screwdriver confiscated, which was obviously very innocently included in my repair kit, but you know, I do totally look like somebody that would hijack a plane armed with such a "weapon" so....

When I actually moved to Germany for a while I took far more cubes than a competition and that really was an interesting airport security check :p

Usually people are quite interested, but you get a few that mutter things in different languages. Often they don't realise that I speak said language and can understand them saying "what's a woman of her age doing with all these toys?". Well hey, at least they say "woman" and not "girl" :p
 

Kolraz

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I think that the fact they can see inside the cubes is probably part of the reason they are so suspicious. All the plastic mixed in with screws and stuff? That must look odd haha
I can understand Silicon Spray not being allowed, and they've even stopped allowing any kind of liquid whatsoever in Hand Luggage.

Off-Topic - How many languages do you know Charlie?
 

CharlieCooper

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I think that the fact they can see inside the cubes is probably part of the reason they are so suspicious. All the plastic mixed in with screws and stuff? That must look odd haha
I can understand Silicon Spray not being allowed, and they've even stopped allowing any kind of liquid whatsoever in Hand Luggage.

Off-Topic - How many languages do you know Charlie?

Well, I'm English... actually that's a bit hard to define. Well, I live in England. My mum is French, so I grew up bi-lingual, then I decided to learn German and Spanish at school then University so I speak them quite well. I also lived in Germany very (!) briefly, which helped maybe a little bit...

Arnaud/Joey will also tell you that I speak "conversational" Dutch. I also seem to understand Catalan quite well but can't speak it, but that's because it's a mix of Spanish and French and so it's quite simple. As long as the subject is pretty run of the mill I also understand quite a lot of Italian because of the other European languages I know and the roots of the words.

The answer really is that I know 4 languages at an "advanced" level.
 

Logan

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I think that the fact they can see inside the cubes is probably part of the reason they are so suspicious. All the plastic mixed in with screws and stuff? That must look odd haha
I can understand Silicon Spray not being allowed, and they've even stopped allowing any kind of liquid whatsoever in Hand Luggage.

Off-Topic - How many languages do you know Charlie?

Well, I'm English... actually that's a bit hard to define. Well, I live in England. My mum is French, so I grew up bi-lingual, then I decided to learn German and Spanish at school then University so I speak them quite well. I also lived in Germany very (!) briefly, which helped maybe a little bit...

Arnaud/Joey will also tell you that I speak "conversational" Dutch. I also seem to understand Catalan quite well but can't speak it, but that's because it's a mix of Spanish and French and so it's quite simple. As long as the subject is pretty run of the mill I also understand quite a lot of Italian because of the other European languages I know and the roots of the words.

The answer really is that I know 4 languages at an "advanced" level.

...WOW! Is all I have to say. :eek:
 
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In Turkey, 3 men checked my bag and found a V7, they never saw it before and started checking if there was stuff inside the V7, and they popped it!!!!:mad::mad: I was so pissed off
 

CharlieCooper

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Wow thats really cool.

I got an A* in my German GCSE results and decided to take it to A level, so I was just curious really :) I seem to have forgotten a lot of German over summer though :(

Well, without wanting to go wildly off topic, all I will say when starting A-Level languages is that it is REALLY important to do a little bit of work every so often. You can't cram languages very easily, but you can sit back while everyone is going crazy revising for exams knowing that you've learnt steadily over the year. Get yourself a conversation partner, or talk to a cuber in another language also :) The first time I did A-Levels I did all languages which meant the year was kind of stressful having to flick between languages between classes, but when exams came around, there wasn't much I could do to prepare except learn a few grammar rules and I felt very confident I would get the As I needed.

[/offtopic]
 

vvtopkar

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Sortof off topic:
I havn't had any cube trouble at the airport, however, I wanted to get a video of me cubing at the Taj Mahal, but the security there confiscated my cubes and made me put them back in the car :(
 
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