Parity

It occurs to me that many recent immigrants have probably never seen a two dollar bill. Similarly, some of my younger colleagues would never have spent a one dollar bill.
Somewhere, I've got a U.S. two dollar bill lying around. Received it as "souvenir" change when paying for an $18 Chicago River cruise. Poor Thomas Jefferson got short-changed...

The last time the Canadian dollar was worth more than the U.S. dollar, I had no money to spend. This time, I'm hitting eBay, where the CAD amounts in parentheses are now smaller than the USD equivalents. Probably should take a few screenshots for posterity.
Kind of like the time all the gas stations had to quickly add a digit to all their signs, and the dollar counter started spinning faster than the litre counter.

Arrived

The Arrivals area is probably the happiest part of the airport. Certainly more fun than the Departures entrance, and definitely better than U.S. Customs or security.

I actually don't often meet people at the airport, and even more seldom get met on arrival. Most of the time, I'm that lone traveller, marching purposefully towards the rental car shuttle. It's still a new enough experience for me, to see the nicer side of travel: the anticipation, sudden recognition, short run and embrace; the looks of joy, as well as relief.

Home for a Rest

It's nice to be home for a while. To be able to buy more than a couple of apples and oranges, and a pre-packaged salad at the grocery store - milk in 2L cartons, yogurt, bananas (even green ones). Time enough to gather up boarding passes and claim all those missing Aeroplan miles.

My Architect

A colleague of mine gave a good review of a documentary on the enigmatic architect Louis Kahn.

Kimbell Art Gallery

One of the few buildings he completed was the Kimbell Art Gallery in Fort Worth, TX, opened in 1972.

From the Flight Deck

It's been a whirlwind of flying around these last few weeks. I dread to think what my carbon footprint is.

I did finally manage to self-check-in on United Airlines. Perhaps a Saturday afternoon business traveller no longer fits the profile. Or perhaps UA now has the same copy of the list as AA, where I've never had any problems.

The single greatest benefit which UA offers to their frequent flyers is access to Economy Plus seating. Unfortunately, they no longer offer it to Star Alliance Gold members who are not Premier Executive members in their Mileage Plus program. However, a sympathetic gate agent may sometimes grant a concession to a harried Saturday afternoon business traveller...

The other special feature is Channel 9 on the audio entertainment system, which gives you an ear on the communications with air traffic control. It also lets you listen in on the amusing exchange that takes place when your plane misses its turn on the taxiway, slams on the brakes, then tries to make a hard left turn, but can't do it with one engine shut down. The ground controller then has to choreograph an intricate ballet involving hundreds of tons of metal.

No Fly's on me

At United Airlines check-in, the over-stressed agents herd everyone to the self-check kiosk ("Mr. Chicken") first, to reduce their workload. For some time now, I've never been able to get my own boarding passes, and been forced to line up again, at the trouble-makers' line. Inevitably, the check-in agent will try to key something in by several different ways, and then have to call someone, and read out my personal details somewhat loudly. I had always assumed that my transborder itineraries were the reason. Except two weeks ago, I got rejected on a US-US domestic flight.

Today, I asked for an explanation. It seems that my evil twin brother with the same name has got himself on a No Fly list....

The Terminal

It seems scarcely believable, but there have been cases where people are forced to live in airport terminals for extended periods of time. In the ultimate extreme, it was enough to
drive them mad.

My own greatest air travel fear is being trapped, on a plane sitting on a runway, for hours on end.

Some airports are better than others in which to spend some extended "air time".

The new $5 billion dollar Taj Mahal at Toronto Pearson for example, is rather nice.

Toronto Pearson (YYZ) Terminal 1

So is the new International Terminal in Dallas. The last time I was here, it wasn't ready yet, and I never got to ride the Skylink before we were forced to flee (a long story).

Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal D

Others are not so sparkling new. As hordes of travellers wear down the facilities, year after year, they take on the 1970's malaise of the now defunct Pearson Terminal 2, or the 1980's vibe of Terminal 3.

Pittsburgh International (PIT)

Even in Denver, which experienced one of the first problem-plagued overnight switchovers to a new site, there is a dated 1990's feel.

Denver International (DEN)

Even though no travellers plan to spend too much time in the airports, there are some quirky things to make the visit more interesting. Like a space tunnel.

Chicago O'Hare (ORD) Terminal 1

And Back Again