We’re headed home from Washington D.C. The reason for the trip was to attend the Freddie Awards, which happened on Thursday. Since we were here anyway, we decided to make it a quick weekend trip to a place we hadn’t visited in a while.
On my last trip to Washington D.C. in 2019, I visited the National Archives. When I got home, Sharon told me she never remembered seeing the home of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We had a few hours on our first day in the city so it was a great time to check it out.
This photo is from the National Archives. On the day we visited, there was a downpour all afternoon. We arrived soaked in our raincoats and with umbrellas.
Not surprisingly, security at the National Archives is tighter than at the other museums in Washington D.C. Your bags and items in your pockets go through an X-Ray scanner and you walk through a metal detector. Guests are told to take all electronics, keys, phones and smart watches and put them through the scanner.
I followed the directions and went through the metal detector with only my wallet.
BEEP!!!!!
The guard directed me back and told me to remove EVERYTHING from my pockets. I pulled out my wallet and put it through the scanner. I walked through again and no beep. I had no idea why my wallet set off the metal detector.
It wasn’t until I was paying for dinner that evening that it hit me. I had my travel wallet with me, which included my American Express Platinum Card and my Sapphire Reserve.
My only guess is that the combined metal of the two cards in my wallet was enough to set off the metal detector. Good thing I didn’t have my Capital One Venture X with me as well.
I’m not a big fan of metal cards, and now I have another reason for that opinion.
My advice is if you ever are entering a secure place, like a courthouse or a Federal building, make sure to put your wallet in the bin with your keys and phone if you’re carrying one or more metal credit cards.
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1 comment
I keep my prestige in the back of my phone, and if I forget to take it out, I get sent to secondary security anywhere other than the US. Something about the metal card gets flagged. They pull out the card, take a look at it and send me on my way.