Dallas is apparently a highly coveted … err …travel destination; that is if you can call traveling in a cargobox for 15 hours “travel.”

Tuesday saw the arrival of Charles McKinley, who arrived inDallas in a cargo airline crate from New York City. The postmandropped Charles off right at his doorstep, whereupon he broke outof the box to face his flabbergasted parents and an awe struckdriver for Pilot Air Freight, Billy Ray Thomas. Thomas immediatelycalled the police, and McKinley was arrested on … unrelatedbad check and traffic charges. Presumably the police had nothingelse to book McKinley on, as it seems there are no real lawsforbidding an individuals to ship their person cross-country.

Authorities at the FBI are baffled and curious to discover justhow McKinley managed to bypass air cargo security. The high-flyingprankster filled out shipping instructions for a crate full ofclothes and a computer, and then smuggled himself through in acrate measuring 42-by-36-by-15 inches.

Air cargo officials, security heads, and other authoritiescannot chastise McKinley enough for his “stupidity”— most likely in an effort to remove any blame for their ownidiotic failure to detect the stowaway.

One implication of McKinley’s “trip” involvesthe possibility for a similar use of the airfreight system byterrorists seeking to turn cargo jets into weapons of terror.Perhaps the officials who belabor McKinley’s fatuous actionsshould thank him for accentuating a vulnerable chink in the federalTransportation Security Administration armor.

We cannot deny that McKinley’s plan, albeit creative, wasmoronic. But what college student can’t identify with hismotivation (homesickness) and desire to save money spent onairfare?

While some are offended by McKinley’s disregard for commonsense, most of our peers find amusement at the expense of the boywho shipped himself to Texas.

Being exceedingly poor can make one realize that there is noplace like home. And besides, what kid didn’t wonder inchildhood fantasies what being mailed to a far-away destinationwould encompass.

As put so succinctly in the children’s bookAlexander’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,sometimes we wish and ponder, “I think I’ll mail myselfto Australia.”