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Before September 11, 2001 we almost took traveling across country and out of the country by plane for granted. We never even had to stop and think about how careful we needed to be when we packed our things, we didn't have to worry about adding extra time to our boarding wait, nothing like that. We had a far more carefree and probably worry free way of thinking prior to that ominous date. The changes in the past ten years have been monumental and have taken away the innocence that once was.

These changes have been practical as well as psychological for everyone that has anything to do with travel. The majority of the changes of course have been within the airline companies themselves and probably to some extent other types of travel as well. Our entire nation has been given no other choice but to adjust to terrorism.

Right after the tragedy, travel all over the world was nearly immediately reduced and maintained that reduction until just this past year when it has finally shown some signs of increase. Even though travel has been gradually increasing, it still has not reached the levels it once was prior to the attacks on the Twin Towers. Travel at home however; recovered a lot quicker than travel outside of the United States, in fact statistically it shows that domestic type of travel has had a huge increase over the past decade.

With security be tighter than it has ever been the lines are airports are of course longer than they have ever been and that's whether you are flying domestically or overseas, it doesn't matter. So on average people must arrive at the airport hours earlier than they would have prior to 9/11. Today's airline security have been professionally trained and are ordered that everyone is fully searched and all items must be X-rayed so that they can look for things like corkscrews, knives, scissors and anything else that might be considered dangerous and could be used as a weapon.

Passengers now are all required to stand in line at the ticket counter even if they already have their tickets to be checked in and they must show some sort of picture ID whether it's a government ID or their drivers' license or they will not be allowed to board the plane. Your friends and relatives are no longer allowed to say good bye at the departure gate nor can they meet you there to pick you up. Only those with a ticket can get anywhere inside the actual terminals.

The planes themselves are far more secure and they try to have U.S. Marshalls on as many flights as they can and they will shoot to kill anyone who poses a threat to anyone on the plane. The planes themselves have improved cockpit doors that are harder for people to break into.

The changes that have been most profound however are the psychological ones. Americans use to be carefree travelers and have now become quite skittish and tend to now look at certain parts of the world as placed they will never travel to any longer such as any country in the Middle East will generally be off the list for most Americans as well as most of Asia a long with India and Pakistan. They have also become far more wary of those who they travel with when they look as if they may be of the same decent as those who attacked this country on 9/11. Americans were once laid back and trustworthy of most places they once use to travel to, still find themselves unable and unwilling to feel safe or trusting any longer even though a majority of these places have nothing to do with terrorism around the world.