Call it vicarious rage.

That's what I felt when a security guard at Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport told the guy in front of me that he could not pass through the checkpoint with his Leatherman tool. It had a knife and multiple other sharp points, so it failed on many counts. The guy had exactly two choices, explained the guard. He could toss it into security's growing heap of jettisoned contraband--a veritable mountain of nail clippers, cigarette lighters and pocketknives loomed before us--and then pass through. Or he could exit the security line, go back to the terminal, rustle up an envelope and mail the Leatherman to himself. "Probably take you an hour; you'll miss your plane," the guard said.

Great, I thought. No doubt that Leatherman had serious sentimental value for the guy, perhaps a gift from a girlfriend, owned for the last 10 years or so, even if she had moved on long ago. But in the end, he did what any time-pressed rational person would do. He flipped it into the garbage and shuffled through security.

An old utility knife is just the beginning of what an incautious traveler can lose. It has become downright easy to foul up a fitness vacation before it ever gets off the ground, for while you may make it to your destination, your mountain bike or golf clubs or fishing pole may not. Correction: That gear probably won't be there for you unless you know the new travel regulations. The guiding rule is: Take nothing for granted. What was true before Sept. 11, 2001, isn't true today--and it's especially not true after Jan. 1, 2003, when every piece of checked baggage on every flight originating in the U.S. began to be inspected before being cleared for loading.

Although doomsayers predicted that the new baggage mandates would trigger chaos at airports, implementation went rather smoothly. However, be prepared to watch inspectors paw through your dirty underwear, shirts and worse.

In theory, bags are supposed to zoom down sophisticated X-ray machines with only a tiny number then pulled for hand searches. But airport personnel have encountered bumps in getting the X-ray machines working right. So they're doing a large number of hand searches. On a recent trip, my bags were searched both coming and going (the inspector leaves behind a card announcing the search). On another occasion, I watched an inspector in Orlando dump out my sack of dirty laundry accumulated during a weeklong trip--not one of my proudest moments.