Airport Distractions

I love Airports!  In August of 2010, I had two lay overs in Hong Kong!  My first flight arrived at gate 1 and departed from gate 50.  My return flight arrived at Gate 66 and departed out of Gate 3.  Yikes!  Both of those distances seemed to drag on forever.  After flying 15+ hours the first trip and 6+ hours the second, I was not in the mood nor did I have the energy to do any walking at all.  See Map Below;

I knew this was quite a distance but I did not know exactly how long it was.  That was until I read this article in USA Today last week and came across this topic “Where are the world’s Longest Airport Walks?” Hong Kong was number  7!  The total distance from one end to the other was 0.98 miles!  I walked nearly a mile on my second leg and pretty close to 3/4 of a mile on the first!  I am now adding to my bucket list to walk each one of these lengthy airports!

My trips for September will route me through the following cities; SEA, SLC, JFK, ATL, SJU, DTW, and MSP.  I have the blessing to visit two more airports on that long walk list;

• Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport=1.3 miles.

• New York John F. Kennedy=0.7 miles.

RELAXATION;

So, What do I do when I’m at the airport?  Very simple but complex question.  I don’t have any set protocol but watch people and watch airplanes in the airline lounge.  The airline lounge provides certain necessary amenities like; food, WIFI, calmness, and of course beverages!  I’m talking about coffee of course, although they do offer free alcohol and soda for those that want to partake! Depending upon my trips for the year, I will join one of two clubs, and with different membership.

• Delta Sky Club
• Alaska Board Room

Which club I join for the year really depends on my travels.  Some years I wont join either based upon the destination airports not having a club room, or the lack of time I’ll spend in airports that do.  Due to the lack of need for the year 2012, I allowed my membership to laps.  To date my trips this year have been limited to airports that don’t have clubs and lay overs of 30-40 minutes.  This month in September I’ll be buying a 30 day membership to the Delta Sky Club.  Within 30 days I have 4 travels planned (14 layovers of varying times) and the value of needing (peace of mind, food, “coffee”, WIFI) the clubs are greater than buying a whole year’s membership.