National Geographic (Nov 2006): The Virtual Traveler

I had just flown out of a bloody Iraq, through a nervous Jordan, a tranquil Germany, and was headed home to Los Angeles via Washington, D.C., when boom—I was informed at the gate that, even though I had checked in, I no longer had a seat on the plane. The desk agent airily reminded me that a ticket no longer guarantees a flight. How did the free world come to this? Are the days of happy travel behind us and nothing but grim, knee-crushing box-lunch short-hops ahead?

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Source: National Geographic