traveling thoughts

[hiker]

I have been traveling a lot in the past 2 months and I'm finally back for a bit. I did read a couple notes (e.g. the toronto paper clip) in which people said that they didn't wear skirts for border crossings so I thought I would post my expereinces.

in all my travel--everywhere (europe, south america, latin america, africa) -- I wore skirts (all ankle length) while traveling with little or no comment except for an occasional polite question as to why I was wearing a skirt or to comment favorably. The only exceptions were two experiences.

One getting back in the US after being in Peru in which after I had gone all the way through customs and security I was stopped by an African American women in charge of something who insisted that I need to undergo additional searching. When asked by a male colleague why he was going to be patting me down and maybe more - she replied that I needed to learn about appropriate clothing. He rolled his eyes and told me I could go.

In the other I was stopped about 10 feet from the plane door in Detroit getting ready to leave the country by customs agents who took everything in a my carryon apart. Including emptying the pockets of my clothes shaking things out, counting my cash and asking why I carrying cash from 5 countries, turning on my computer and looking at files, reading the papers I was carrying. It was the first anything like that has happened. The whole process took about 45 minutes, the only other person they stopped and searched was a older man wearing a large cross and skirt (maybe pants - I couldn't tell, but it didn't look like it) I assumed he had some religous affiliation. it was interesting but I wondered if my different appearance singled my out for special attention. The air marshall from the flight into Detroit stopped me after the flight and had asked where I was going and commented about the skirt. He was pleasant person but I wondered if he had tagged me.

So given the number of border crossings I made in a skirt I wouldn't hesitate to wear a skirt to travel but it may occasionally attract attention here in the US. Just make sure you are ready to be carefully checked.

As an additional comment I didn't see any other men in a skirt anywhere. I did see men in kilts in Vancouver, BC; Madison, WI; Iowa City, IA; and Seattle. Based on this I wondered how many men in the US wear a skirt once a week or month and how many wear kilts once a week or once a month. Based on my unscientific sample I'm guessing that less than 100 - 1000 men wear skirts on a regular basis and maybe 1000 - 10,000 men wear kilts on a regular basis in the US (sort of an order of magnitude guess) -- does anyone have any thoughts or better data.

- hiker

[bcmtnbka]

You were in Vancouver? I would have loved to meet you.

You are right about Vancouver. There are lots of men in kilts. In any given kilts night, there would be at least one kilted guy walked in the pub without knowing that it was a kilts night. The chaps are usually surprised because they would get a free pint of guinness as well.

[hiker]

I was in Vancouver and I would have loved to meet you. The next time I'm there I'll drop you a note.