June 15, 2004

ON THE ROAD, DAY 1

Day1A.jpg

Okay, so I do have access to the Web.

As I wrote yesterday, I'm on the road on business this week in Maryland. (That's me above at at Baltimore/Washington International). I flew out of Tampa Monday morning a 8 a.m, after getting up at 5 a.m. to get ready, get in the car and get to the airport in enough time to get to the airport.

It's at this point that I reach conflict: I like to travel, but I hate traveling.

When I'm on the road alone without my family, I can't sleep. I usually eat an either an avalanche of crap or nothing at all. I'll admit it: I'm not good at it.

That said, I find it endlessly fascinating to fly these days.

First, it's safe to say that the charm of air travel does not exist any longer. No one dresses up for the ride. The traveling public is a mish-mash of business suits and jogging suits. Everyone wears a look on their face like they just found out about an IRS audit.

At the same time, most people are unfailingly polite. Bump a piece of luggage while waiting in line for coffee? My bad. Can you hand me an extra napkin? Not a problem. Help you get that bag in the overhead compartment? Absolutely.

If you haven't flown lately, the airport now is a mall with fancy transportation attached. Anything you can imagine - from vibrating lounge chairs at Brookstone to Kangol hats at the Lids hat store - can be bought at the airport.

Unfortunately, this makes every airport as generic as every mall.

Occasionally, you see signs of distinction. Charlotte's terminal features the usual extended moving sidewalk. Next to that is a long line of white, high-back rocking chairs. You might think that people were too busy to sit in a rocker, but every one of them were full and bobbing back and forth.

Day1B.jpg

At the moment, I'm staying at the Marriott on the campus of the University of Maryland. It's a lovely place. Doesn't hurt that when I drove in yesterday that temps were in the low 80s instead of the dog-panting-in-your-face mid-90s I had in Florida when I left.

Day1c.jpg


Note to my wife: Yes, I pulled the comforter off the bed.

Posted by Jeff at June 15, 2004 07:40 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I loved the Orlando airport. I was stuck there for seven hours once and although I was sorely tempted to spend over $100 for pseudo-Raybans, the mallish aspect kept me off a killing spree.
And that little train/tram/whatsit is so very Disney.
Pittsburg airport, on the other hand, sucked cooties.

Posted by: LeeAnn at June 16, 2004 09:27 AM

I have to agree, Orlando airport isn't the worst place in the world to be stuck in.

And I agree with your wife. My first thought when I saw the picture of the bed was, "I hope he knows to remove that comforter".

Posted by: Christine at June 19, 2004 10:10 PM