Saturday, June 10th 2006

I am sitting on a plane bound for San Jose to take part in their Gay Pride weekend. My boy Tyler Riggz will be joining me later on this evening, coming from LA. He lucked out this trip as he only has 2 hours to my ten. For IML he had a wake up call of 4 am out of San Diego. Gross.

It has been raining in Boston since Tuesday. I decided that since I had a 1:15 flight I would take the subway. A pleasant walk to the underground, three trains and 90 minutes later I was at Logan. It took longer than a cab, but you do the math: $1.25 vs. $90.

I was supposed to have a three hour layover in Atlanta on my way to San Jose. After a 90 minute turbulent ride to Atlanta, the last thing I wanted to do was sit and fester. I wanted to get there as soon as possible and complete my tasks comforted by the luxuries of The San Jose Marriott - not the dreary lighting of Hartsfield-Jackson. I deplaned and began to look for a quiet space to rot. I noticed that there was a flight destined for San Jose that left in an hour. I put my Bluetooth ear piece on, called Delta and began walking toward the other end of the terminal where I hoped to snag a seat. As I sifted through the mass of strollers and human debris, I managed to score a seat on the flight. I wondered though, why I had been scheduled to waste three hours of my life in Atlanta surrounded by the assortment of fast food chains and “traveler friendly” retail stores. This is what happens when you travel on somebody else’s budget.

I imagine many people probably think that the travel aspect of my life is a dream; that I am whisked around first class and picked up in stretch limos. On the odd occasion that is true. Usually though, I have to follow up on the itinerary, waiting, on hold, to change my seat to a window, and because of my coastal living getting up way before dawn, to catch a plane. Thank God for self service kiosks and the ability to print boarding passes at home. I cannot imagine doing this sort of thing without these modern day technological blessings.

Travel is not something to take lightly. I don’t take chances. I print my pass at home and take only my carry on bad. I fantasize about arriving at the airport to find the self service stations out of order or lines that stretch all the way to the next counter. This has never happened, instead I arrive at the terminal tripping over tumbleweeds and walking right past a ghost town of kiosks and sailing right through the security line. Now don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to be greeted with such a trouble free experience, I just would like to be able to say, “Thank God I wasn’t in that mess, it’s a good thing I had just my carry on.” I know there will be other flights and other opportunities to pity those waiting in endless lines glancing at their watches anxiously wondering if they are going to make their flights. Until then, it’s all about taking control and making my life as easy as possible.

Tomorrow I’ll bring you details about the Delta Song and the freaky women I shared a row with to San Jose. Until then…

This entry was posted by Johnny on Saturday, June 10th, 2006 at 10:27 PM and is filed under Planes, Trains & Automobiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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