However you get to Florida, there is a good chance, being as this is a UK based holiday blog, that you’ll arriving there by aeroplane. For many of us now, taking to the skies is like second nature and we don’t really bat an eyelid as we soar through the clouds at 35,000 ft, snoozing or enjoying a movie inside a hulk of metal over 300 tonnes in weight the length of a small football pitch. However, for many others flying can be daunting, anxious time especially for those of a nervous disposition. What with all the sensationalist news coverage, with editors keen to sell papers and politicians keen to sell us…something(?), it seems everyone wants to scare us round to their way of thinking, so it’s no wonder that some holidaymakers can’t help but worry a little at the prospect of getting on the jumbo.

As you make your way to Miami by plane, you may notice the stringent security checks that you go through these days in order to board your flight, if you haven’t travelled for a few years then you’re sure to note the thoroughness and in most cases, the vigilant professionalism of the airport staff in following every letter of the latest security memo they’ve received. If you are the sort of person who has noted this, who takes an interest in these kind procedures and how they’ve altered in recent years, then you might also find this particular event something interesting to check out whilst you’re in Miami.

On the 21^st of April from 2.30pm, HistoryMiami at 101 West Flagler Street, one of Miami’s most impressive museums, is putting on a special event entitled Safe Skies: Aviation Security Past and Present, where they plan to look at how security measures in the aviation industry have changed over the years. They’ve invited in a number of experts to discuss and debate these changes and the events that have provided the impetus for them. In the golden age of aviation there was no real searching of passengers, now passengers can often look forward to a screening courtesy of a neat (an expensive) bit of body scanning kit that thusfar only existed in school boy fantasies, brought to you from a company owned by former Department of Homeland Security bigshot Michael Chertoff, so he must know what he’s talking about. Of course it all seems worth it to enjoy a safe and happy holiday in the Florida sunshine, but it’s fair to say that it’s something that has been a bit of a hot topic in the travel world in recent times.

For over ten years now, for better or worse, the US has passed a whole suite of hitherto undreamed of security legislation, tightening its borders and keeping a close eye on air travel to an unprecedented extent. Opinion is divided on the wisdom or effectiveness of such methods, but as someone who will have had some close and recent experience of the matter at hand, if you’re on holiday in Miami this April, then a trip to what promises to be a fascinating event could be a great way to add a bit of variation to your visit – if you can tear yourself away from the beaches and cocktails that you took to the skies for in the first place that is.