Where have I been?

US, Canada, Peru, Egypt, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Singapore.

Obviously this does not include all the countries I "touched down" …

Lagech Luggage !

Have you wondered how the porters at the airports are adept at matching the people who are waiting at the carousel with the luggage of people who are not?

Here I am on the Denver airport at 12:30 AM, with 50 other people waiting impatiently around the belt loaded with 50 pieces of un-spoken luggage going round and round. 8 I counted.

Then to rub salt on open wounds, swishes the elevator door, spills out a groups of people who saunter over, pick their luggage lazily and walk out.

Squeak. Squeak. Squeak goes the conveyor.

Tap tap tap, their retreating heels on the  piso mojado.

Travails of a traveler…

Surviving airports …

I always make it on time, at least 2 hours before departure. Everything else in this article works after this condition has been met….

I never travel without a book. Not one tomeless flight. In fact the first thing that goes on my list after a travel is confirmed is the book I will be traveling with. I have tons of book on my bibliotheque …. ok , ok…. book rack with a little boarding pass stuck between pages  that gives the date and flight that I read the book. I either pick a fast thriller, a biography or a famous must-read-to-get-it-off-the-checklist book. Never a business book. Nope. That one is for the potty rack.

I pick my entertainment early on. Kids come high up on the list. I pick a seat in the waiting areas where I either see siblings with not more than 4-5 years between them or two shy toddlers trying to find a friend. Kids are wonderful. They say some of the most original things with no hangups. They are goofy. Untainted. Unpretentious. Fresh.

If not kids, I seek elderly women in pairs. One with glittering eyes. And talkative. Hearing them talk is sometimes like (y)ears of experience being uploaded in to your brain. Either that or they gossip, either way, it is worth it.

I label people. I force myself to think of a personality type/profession for people around me. The bespectacled, neatly packed "secretary", the fastidiously dressed, chin up "model", the precise, control freak "deal maker", the tired, behind-his-number "salesman", the kind faced, laughing eyed "family counselor", the tight lipped, stern "school teacher", the fidgety, trying-to-look-cool-with-his-laptop-and-Zune "Microsoftie"

Is this stereotyping? Sure. At it’s best.  And shamelessly so. But then, hey, I am at the airport, between two flights. Both delayed. And last thing I need is to you to stereotype me as a stereotyper.

Well, an extension to that game is to match a personality to the car you think they drive. Does the secretary drive a Delsol, the model drive a Audi TT  convertible, the deal maker has a Lincoln Navigator, the salesman has a Ford Taurus…. You get the drift? Its fun. Works for me.

And then if your flight is further delayed, imagine the model is actually a secretary and the school teacher is a counselor and the salesman actually drives a Ferrari….

I work the shops. All of them, time permitting, buying nothing – please note. Especially Hudson News, (66% of them run either by a Chinese or an Indian – the statistics is actually proportionate to the contribution of there two countries to the world population). How else would you know what Angelina said to Brad Pitt on Valentines (unless you do the grocery, that is) and if a Elvis Pristley is still alive. As long as it keeps you awake, it is worth is.

I try and stay mobile because that’s what the planes are doing up  there. I never resign to my fate (and the 10:30 PM third connection.) Planes are constantly getting delayed. Passengers are always getting bumped off. There is always a better flight home. Question is, are you good enough to catch it?

For e.g., I was supposed to be on this flight from Denver to Seattle that got canceled for "crew reasons" (whatever that means) and I got bumped off to a flight through SFO. So  6:05 Denver – SFO followed by a 10:35 SFO-SeaTac. Once I reached SFO, I worked the departure electronic displays and I realized that the flight that should have taken off 30 minutes before I reached SFO had still not arrived. While I had to change floors and concourses, I did manage to get on to a flight 90 minutes earlier and that means being home 90 minutes early!

Helps, especially when John sets up a 7:00 AM VTC for the next day.