Years back, I remember Laura Ingram talking about the Tools standing Around stealing a gold crucifix from her checked luggage that was given to her by Pope John Paul. I try not to put anything valuable in my checked baggage but it’s hard to not travel with cash, laptop, camera, etc.
I was never aware people put their cash through the x-rays. I would never do that. I carry a metal money clip but I always separate the cash from it before putting the empty clip in the little plastic tubs at TSA checkpoints. I keep the cash itself in my pocket at all times. I don’t trust the people who work TSA but I’m sure some of them are good people and hard workers.
I travel by car. Claustrophobia in those overcrowded jets makes me nuts, and if I was forced to sit on the tarmac in one with no a/c or a chance to use the restroom I would rip the top of the plane off.