Yesterday I travelled from Melbourne to Portland (Oregon), a trip that I have done many, many times before. And like many times before, it was clear that my checked luggage had been ‘inspected’. But I’d never had it inspected like this.

Normally one is informed of a bag inspection because there’s a note from the TSA saying that one’s bag had been opened and inspected. In the past, this has been the only way I’d known my bag was inspected, because usually the contents had been nicely replaced the way they had been found.

But not this time.

I’ve begun to start packing an ‘arrival bag’ in my checked luggage, which is everything I expect that I’ll need once I land after twenty-something hours of travel with extreme jet-lag. It has a couple of changes of clothes, toiletries, pajamas, chargers, a book or two, and anything else I think I might need in the first couple of days after arrival.

But when I opened my bag upon arriving in Portland, everything in my arrival bag had been removed, and was strewn around my suitcase. My spare shoes had been removed from their plastic bag, so they could sully my other clothes. My books, underwear, and shirts were floating freely. My cables were out and tangled with the rest of my possessions..

My socks had been unpaired.

All of them.

Who the hell unpairs socks?

And that’s the thing, I don’t know. This didn’t come with a note from the TSA, although if I were leaving someone else’s possessions in that state, I wouldn’t leave a note either. I didn’t inspect my bag between arriving in LAX and continuing on to Portland, so I don’t know if it was rummaged through before or after I entered the USA. Combined with discovering that one can’t opt out of body-scanners in Australia I’m feeling that air travel comes with an even greater violation of privacy than I had previously come to expect.

As far as I can tell, nothing had gone missing, but to be honest I don’t keep a manifest of my possessions when travelling. Then again I’m not usually worried about airport staff stealing things, or trashing the contents of my bags.

Maybe I should be…