mr-damon/travel

Airport security in America is a sham--"security theater" designed to make travelers feel better and catch stupid terrorists. Smart ones can get through security with fake boarding passes and all manner of prohibited items--as our correspondent did with ease.

"Counter­terrorism in the airport is a show designed to make people feel better," Bruce Schneier said. "Only two things have made flying safer: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers." This assumes, of course, that al-Qaeda will target airplanes for hijacking, or target aviation at all. "We defend against what the terrorists did last week," Schnei­er said. He believes that the country would be just as safe as it is today if airport security were rolled back to pre-9/11 levels. "Spend the rest of your money on intelligence, investigations, and emergency response."

I took this photo from the top of the Three Sisters' Restaurant in Boudhanath, Nepal. The central structure is the Great Stupa at Boudhanath.

For those of us trying to live a greener, more carbon-conscious life, the first two commandments should perhaps be these: "Thou Shalt not Own a Car" and "Thou Shalt not Fly Away on Vacation."

If you look at how the typical person in the developed world generates climate-changing carbon emissions, the No. 1 culprit for many if not most of us is personal transportation.

The emissions generated by car travel - commuting, grocery shopping, driving children to school - dwarf the emissions created in heating or lighting your home. And the emissions generated when you fly far away smother all your good green intentions.

The town of Crestone, Colo., has about 1,500 residents and a cluster of Buddhist monasteries, a Catholic monastery, a Taoist retreat, a Hindu ashram, a Shumei center and several American Indian sanctuaries. A 30-second exposure of the starry sky above the Padmasambhava Stupa, one of two stupas in the town.

A globetrotting grandmother crossed a Himalayan border checkpoint using her pensioner's bus pass.

Helen Carter, 72, from Churchstow, south Devon, set off on an arduous trek in the mountains, having left her passport behind at her hotel.

But the Devon-wide travel pass, bearing a March 31, 2008, expiry date, came to her rescue and allowed her to criss-cross between India and Nepal four times.

The pass usually gives her free travel on trips to less exotic places such as Plymouth and Totnes.

Mrs Carter said: "When I showed the pass the border guard smiled and waved me through. We had to cross the border three more times during the trek and the bus pass worked every time, although I had to fill in a form."