Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Airport Blogging

Backward Thinking


Elapsed Travel time: Stardate 8 hours, 54 minutes EST

OK, so try to picture Pat and I sitting in the little airport restaurant/bar in White Plains, NY, drinking tiny $8 Jack & Cokes and $3 club sodas.

Add to that image me being just a little perturbed because after arriving at the airport 2-½ hours before our flight and stumbling through the obligatory disrobing and pawing in the TSA security area, we realized that there were only two gates and NO RESTAURANT OR BAR in the departure lounge area.

It took about two seconds for us to decide to risk running the security gauntlet again with my new explosive laden support hose New Balance tennis shoes in order to go upstairs and sit in comfort in the restaurant while we killed another hour and one half or so.

No big deal, but then when I tried to log onto the airport’s wireless network I learned that like Atlanta they wanted $6.95 worth of my credit card for 24 hours of access.

Like someone is going to hang out here all day for the great food and mixed drinks with flat Coke products. Of course there is the discount $3.95 rate for all the tight wads in their captive audience.

$3.95 gets you…

get ready…

FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES OF INTERNET EXTACY.

Yeah, riiiight…

I went ahead and sprang for the $6.95 deal, which was a good thing because it took me 15 minutes to get Yahoo and a couple of other windows to load because instead of 802.1g they must be using 401.05a or something invented back in the stone ages.

The network is veeeerrrrrrryyyyy S L O W.

Regardless, it looks like we’ll make it home on schedule, and my business partner gave my spirits a boost by letting me know that both seminars in Canada are a go on the 24th in Calgary and the 30th in Ft. McMurray. Even better, I don’t have to make the trip. If I go to Canada and I’m not skiing I want to go in July, not November.

I’m ready to sit on my sofa and vegetate, see y’all then…

1 comment:

andrewodom said...

I could write a book about aiports, "FREE" Wi-fi, mixed drinks, burnt food at TGIFridays, and the like. The only solace I find in those situations is imagining that the airport Wi-fi is actually tapping into some poor bastards open wireless network just outside the perimiter of the airport.