The recent plot to blow up jetliners across the Atlantic has made traveling such a pain nowadays, especially if you're bound for the United States.  While the threat level has been reduced from red (for severe) to orange (for high) by the US Department of Homeland Security for US-bound planes, the whole world has seen the chaos and inconvenience the bomb threat has made.

Going on flight CX 888 to New York has been rather difficult, to say the least, because of the extra security measures employed by the Hong Kong Security Airport police.  There are now special gates where passengers taking flights to North America are herded.  As it is, passengers have to endure longer lines, with children sprawled on the floor as the whole process could be rather slow.

Passengers had to remove their shoes and had them subjected to a special X-ray because the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made the procedure mandatory, despite contradicting claims on whether X-ray can indeed detect the presence of explosives and detonation devices or not.

The foiled terrorist plot would have seen as many as 10 planes bound for the US simultaneously blowing up into the Atlantic Ocean, a plan described by authorities as mass murder on an unimaginable scale.  The bombers had planned to mix a sport drink with a gel-like substance to create an explosive cocktail that could be triggered with a cellular phone or an MP3 player.

That's why tighter rules were made, especially on hand-carried luggage, with mobile phones, Ipods and laptops among the items initially banned, along with shampoos, toothpastes, lotions and hair gels.  Security measures have become so tight that mothers even had to taste their babies' milk formula in front of airport security personnel.  Probably the most affected by the changing rules are the women, some of whom could not help, but wince when told that their expensive makeup items like mascara, lipstick and perfume cannot be allowed in their hand carry luggage.

Domestic flights in the US have become even more rigorous, with several airlines advising passengers to show up three hours before departure time.  So, if you're flying to Chicago from New York, what would normally be a two-hour flight could become a five-hour ordeal.  Despite the hassle and the inconvenience, people are putting up with the stricter procedures.  Obviously, it would be even more inconvenient and painful if you lose your life.  It's a clear case of how traveling can be hazardous to your life.

As US president George Bush said, the foiled plot only goes to show that the fight against terrorism may go on for years.  America is safer than it has been, but more needs to be done.  No one can argue that the US has reason to go to great lengths to secure its borders against terrorist threats, with the shadow of terrorism hovering over American lives especially after 9-11.

The concept of security as Americans know it has taken on a different meaning.  Nowadays, even a small, quiet town could be a potential breeding ground for future terrorists, as John Updike's controversial novel Terrorist theorizes.  Even a nice, pleasant place like Boston is feeling the changes brought on by these times, with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney ordering the National Guard to secure Boston's Logan Airport on the wake of the plot's discovery.

Boston is rich with culture and history, with parks and historic buildings contributing to a slightly European feel.  It's been home to immigrants, especially the Irish, with South Boston even dubbed as America's Dublin.  Everybody here sounds like John F. Kennedy to me, with people having that Eastern New England accent known as Boston English, a unique slang.  Of course, the Kennedy clan is still a potent political power here.

Not many people knew that when Ninoy Aquino was in exile, he lived in a house in Newton, a Boston suburb.  I am told it was his cousin-in-law Danding Cojuangco who helped him purchase his house.  I remember when I interviewed Sen. Aquino several months before he was assassinated (tomorrow is his 23rd death anniversary), he invited me to Boston and in fact, offered to arrange a fellowship in Broadcast Journalism for me at Harvard where he was then on a fellowship grant.  I should have taken him up on his offer.

Boston is called a walkable city, boasting of a Freedon Trail that links historic sites where the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party occurred. Yet even Boston can Trail that links historic sites where the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party occurred.  Yet, even Boston cannot escape the effects of the global threat of terrorism, especially in the wake of growing hatred for America by extremists.

In fact, it became a big story here when a United Airlines flight bound for Washington made an emergency landing at Logan Airport.  The plane was escorted by F-15 fighter jets, giving rise to a terrorist scare with reports that a passenger was carrying a screwdriver, petroleum gel and a note from the al-Qaeda.  It turned out to be a 60-year-old woman had an anxiety attack due to claustrophobia, exhibiting extremely disruptive behavior in the process.

That's why whatever it is they may say against George Bush, he may just be right in pointing out that these terrorists want to change, if not destroy, the American way of life.  They have almost succeeded after 9-11, but just when most Americans are coming to terms with the 2001 tragedy, the foiled terror plot is a grim reminder that there are those who are bent on destroying America even if it costs the lives of thousands of others.

Obviously, we aren't completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in, Bush said.  With the November mid-term elections coming up soon, Democrats have been banging Bush on the Iraq situation and hammering on people's fears regarding the issue of security and terrorism.

While majority still disapprove of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, The Boston Globe disclosed that Bush's approval rating went up three points in the wake of the foiled terror plot, slightly higher than the May poll conducted by Newsweek.  Some 55 percent of Americans indicated approval of Bush's handling of terrorism and homeland security, an 11-point increase that brings the US president's approval ratings to levels not seen since early 2005.  The way things stand, history will probably judge George Bush to be right in wanting to decimate these Islamic fascists, as he called them for threatening the very existence of Americans all over the world.

With terrorists obviously getting more sophisticated and creative in devising plans to blow up buildings, trains and airplanes, longer queues, rigid checks and even misplaced baggage is perhaps a small price to pay compared to the consequences, if terrorists succeed in their vicious scheme.

As the old saying goes, no pain, no gain.  In this case, traveling with all these stringent security measures and the accompanying hassle and inconvenience people have to suffer may be a pain.  But certainly, this is nothing considering that it is your life you ultimately stand to gain.

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