Killing time

I'm sitting in the Detroit airport killing time. I am on my way home from Utah. I've been here for over 3 hours and have 3 more hours to go....So, what are some things to do in an airport?
Eat. I always eat in airports even when I'm not hungry. I eat because I'm bored.
Read. I finished one novel on the plane, finished the Salt Lake City Sunday paper, and just picked up another paperback. I was debating between something light and trashy, something light and fast paced, something I've wanted to read for awhile but that would require some effort. I ended up with light and fast paced.
TV. I watched the end of the Detroit Red Wings Chicago Black Hawks hockey game. I guess this is for the championship. Everyone seemed really excited that Detroit won. I also caught part of Obama's speech at Notre Dame.
People watch. Lots of kids, couples, and elderly. It isn't much fun to watch young men or business travellers. Teenage and young women are pretty boring, too. Kids are the most fun. Couples can be the most funny.
Surf the net. That's what I've been doing, but not much happens on Sunday..

Well, this took about 1o minutes to write, 2 hours 50 minutes to go....

Senior Citizen Day at the airport

Has Tuesday become Senior Citizen day for the airlines? I did read somewhere that the lowest fares are on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Maybe that explains it. I have nothing against older adults, heck I am one! But on my flight home from DC on Tuesday I must have been one of the youngest people on the plane. We had three wheelchair customers, a few canes, and plenty of shaky older adults with their blue Samsonite suitcases. They all have them.

Actually, I admire older people who are still willing to fly given the difficulties they must encounter. There is some rule about wheelchairs in the terminal. An older couple was wheeled up to our gate about 5 minutes before boarding time. The attendants pulled them out of the wheelchairs and deposited them in a waiting area seat. Five minutes later the gate attendant called for 2 wheelchairs and 20 minutes later a different attendant came back, loaded them up, and helped them on the plane. Why? Is it some union thing--different attendants operate the jetway than the terminal? Is it just inefficiency? Or not enough wheelchairs? Or just a form of sadistic torture?

Travel

I love traveling, in theory. I like visiting new places, returning to old places, the planning, the anticipation. What I don't like are the hassles. Our trip to Florida was fun and relaxing. We were trying to minmize the time out of school, but maybe we cut it too close. We departed Syracuse on Thursday afternoon, a 5:30 pm flight, so the boys could get in a full day of school. Got to the airport, flew to Atlanta, all is well. Our flight out of Atlanta, however, was delayed for some reason...don't even remember what it was now. Fortunately, our plane had those little individual TVs and everyone could occupy themselves that way. We got into Orlando late and then had this incredibly long wait to get our rental car. I have never had to wait so long to get a car that already been reserved, especially at midnight. I know this was compounded by the fact that we used Priceline and wanted an economy car. They didn't have any keys ready and were not going to upgrade us when we only were paying $15 a day. We drive to our Disney resort and encounter another incredibly long line to check it. Again, everyone had reservations, they knew we were all coming, what was the hold up? One contributing factor was that for each reservation the desk clerk had to walk into a back room to get the printed information. Most hotels now have printers at the desk, not Disney I guess! We collapsed in bed at 2 am.

The way home started with nobody around to check in the rental car, long security lines at Orlando, but at least the flight was on time, and not too crowded, either. Left Orlando on time and flew back to Atlanta. Our 9:50 PM departure now read 11:20...not good. A 2 hour layover became 3+ hours, after a long day at Epcot, we just wanted to get home. We did finally board just after 11 and landed about 1:30 in Syracuse. Home by 2:15 AM. Should the boys go to school or not? Older son was up and out on time, we let younger son sleep in a bit.

The real effects, of course, hit the next day. You can make it through the first day on sheer will power, then it catches up with you....time for a nap!