It’s anniversary week here at MJ on Travel. On August 3, 2006, I wrote my first blog post and what a ride it’s been. I’m going to be filling in the blanks with some reflective posts this anniversary week, starting with things that I don’t miss in travel from the past seven years.

“Pre” PreCheck  Ironically, my fifth blog post, Threat Level Orange (and Red) on August 10, 2006, reminds me of life before PreCheck. In that post, I wrote about the advent of no liquids your carry ons. Wow….. soon, the 3-1-1 bag came to join us. The best investment I’ve made in myself in recent travel memory is joining Global Entry and receiving a Known Traveler number. Adding this to my airline profiles has almost always granted me access to PreCheck where I don’t have to worry about removing my liquids, laptop, or shoes to clear security. Life before PreCheck is on my list of least favorite things in travel. But that old blog post reminds me of just how far we’ve come.

Puffer Machines – Does anyone else remember these? I guess they turned out to be a colossal waste of time in the end. I even blogged about my first experience with one early in my blogging career. But I do wax nostalgically for the brief moment in time between the elimination of liquids in carry ons and the 3-1-1 bag where boarding an airplane was an almost civil experience. Note – MrsMJ used to be Lady Astrojets before I put my name on the blog. đŸ™‚

Merger Rumors – Looking over some of my blog posts, it seems like there was a time a few years ago when we were talking about a new airline merger idea every few weeks. HP-US, DL-US, NWA-AA, UA-CO (the first time), etc. Now we’re near the end game of airline mergers with AA and US. Certainly, there will be challenges along the way with that merger, and UA-CO still appear to face some tech challenges, but for the most part airline mergers should be near an end.

No Smartphone Boarding Passes – I admit it… I’m officially a geek and I LOVE checking in with my iPhone and having my boarding passes available on my phone. Not everyone agrees with me, but I don’t miss the days that I could not check in with my iPhone and have my boarding passes right there on the phone.

I’m sure I could think of a few other things. What things do you not miss in travel in the last seven years?

-MJ, July 29, 2013