Yesterday we took the flight to Germany from London Heathrow to Frankfurt International. London Heathrow was busy as usual and it took us about 45 minutes to get through the security check. That’s not too bad and I can remember that it took longer on a Friday a few years ago. The restrictions for hand baggage had also been eased and we were each allowed one bag. My backpack (which has traveled with me to the USA, Egypt, Spain and many other place in the past) is unfortunately too big and I left it home. Instead I carried the present, a Chocolade Nemesis cake, in a bag to make sure it arrived in Germany in a presentable (and eatable) state. My wife also left her backpack home because it exceeds the allowed size by a few centimeters. In retrospect she could have brought it because there were definitely people who were allowed larger bags as hand baggage. The shoulder bag she used instead was large enough to put our notebook into it but was of course much less comfortable to carry.
There was also a bright side to all the trouble: there was much more space in the overhead compartments on the plane that what we are used to. And the cake survived the trip, too.