Capitol Police Confiscate SIGG Bottle
by Bryan on August 8th, 2009
Well, I am in Washington D.C. our Nations Capitol. Amazing city, beautiful architecture and endless amounts of security everywhere you go. ENDLESS. It never stops.
I have been thru countless metal detectors and had my bags x-rayed and search a dozen times in the last 3 days. Its actually a downer to have to go thru so much security, I am so tired of it. It would be easier to just walk around with the shirt on your back, no belt, no watch, no wallet, no bags, no camera, no phone. Seriously.
Today I had my aluminum SIGG bottle confiscated. Its a $15 bottle I bought specificaly to use and re-use rather than purchase plastic water bottles. $15 for a bottle is not cheap to me. I have been using it over a year now and have not had to use a single plastic water bottle. Well today I got screwed. I can appreciate the security and efforts the police go to making sure people and landmarks are safe from attack but really, you x-ray my bag see that there is a water bottle which had only a few ounces of water that I was willing to dump out and you take it!
They also wanted to take my food. I had snacks, organic food bars and some mixed nuts. On the other hand they let me bring in my camera bag which was chock full of things I would think are way more suspicious.
Whats with this obsesion with water bottles anyway? Ever since 9/11 you cant bring water on a plane. Now you cant bring water in the Capitol building or Museums. What makes water so dangerous? Do bottled water companies have a deal with security companies? I mean once you make it past the check points and you have been told to throw away all your bottles, full or empty (to fill more land fills) then you are allowed to purchase bottles of water… for an easy $2-$5 a bottle depending on where you are. It cant be the plastic thats dangerous, cause my bottle was recycled alluminum and reusable! Must water thats dangerous to us all.
When do you think they will tell us all “NO SHIRTS!”, and then when you get past the check point have shirts for sale and make them like $50 each.
Oh well, on a side note there are a lot of cyclists (mtb and roadies) here in the city and Georgetown. Lots of runners/joggers too. The city of D.C. and Georgetown are pretty easy to navigate too. Just watch out for the drivers – crazy like LA, maybe worse. Lots of gridlocking of intersections which screws it for a lot of people.
Lots of public transportation too including the D.C. Circulator which you can ride on and off all day for $3! The trick is finding the all day pases. You cant get them from a driver. I was told you can get them at CVS Pharmacy, not true. I was told you could get them at any multi-space parking meter and I tried 4 different ones and never could get one to print. I called the customer help line phone number on the meter, no one ever answered. So I looked up the website on-line and called that number and the woman at customer service for the Circulator had no idea where I could buy a pass. WTF!!! Ends up, I could buy passes from the front desk of my hotel. Nice.
I saw the White House… which had a shit load of security (of course). I had been here in 1993 and back then the streets around the White House were open, now they are barriered off with concreete and cop cars. Its pretty crazy. I am surprised they even let people take pictures or carry water bottles around.
So, Barack Obama you owe me a new SIGG bottle so I can go on saving the environment and stay healthy and hydrated.
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I hope your visit in PA is going much better while you are here.
I have lost two sigg bottles but that was cause I was camping/mtb in canada and just plain lost them. I love my sigg.
F-U water bottle security!
Having to give up a sigg bottle is ridiculous! I just bought my 2nd Sigg… it has a larger opening, so I can easily put ice cubes in, and then it has the sport top… Also purchased the neoprene cover… total – 38.00… i’d be pissed if I had to give that up! What a bunch of crap!