Travel Notes

Airport blogging... because what else is a non-drinking, non-gambling lioness supposed to do in Las Vegas at 9:30 p.m.? So, for your viewing pleasure...

The last flight of the day out to Las Vegas? Full of lovey-dovey couples running off to Vegas to get married.

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Saw an unusual young man as I waited for the flight... Nearly-shaved head, but not quite with the military bearing one might expect. We were both in the final handful of people to load the plane and commented on each others' impatience and obvious exhaustion. In response to my complaint about having come directly from work, "Yeah, I came from boot camp. I was falling asleep, leaning on the guy next to me." I joked about the "support" he would receive from the DI for such a thing. He flushed.

Not until he sat in front of me in the plane did it all come together in my head--not a true high-and-tight (had an over-all fuzzy head), no constant "Ma'am," nothing but a handful of papers in his hands, only the barest veneer of military bearing, and... it was Wednesday. I leaned forward and said, "I thought bootcamp grad was Fridays. How did you manage to leave early?"

"I was only there two days. Bereavement leave."

There was another young man within sight of me on the plane who fit the same profile. He closed his eyes and occasionally swayed slightly as we stood and waited to disembark in Las Vegas. He jerked awake at the muffled thud of the airplane door opening.

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I miss the USO so much. Going to the airport these days is painful. I fight the urge to steer the car through the familiar gate, or just "stick my head in" the door to that special building just outside Terminal 2. I never seem to have the time to visit...

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What's the attraction of slot machines? I really don't get it. Nearest I can figure is: Slot Machines = grown up arcade games, or maybe those infant toys that flash and beep and play music. That's probably not a revelation to most people, but I'd never thought of it that way before.

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I almost bought a cup of yogurt at the airport.... until I saw the price: $2.29. Eighty cents at the grocery store. You'd think enough people would avoid puchasing such over-priced items and it would drive down the price, but apparently these shops are living off business travelers with generous expense accounts.

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One very happy thought....

Sgt. X replied to my email of last week; I'll be meeting him and his family in San Antonio. He was the first soldier who wrote back to me, and so in many ways three years ago he started me down a path whose culmination I do not know, but whose progress thus far has been a wild ride.

I'll also be meeting one other person (possibly two) whom I've never before met in "real space."

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The Las Vegas Airport has free WiFi. Makes up for the incessant warble of the slot machines. Maybe. Heh. Prime people-watching opportunity...

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My head's killing me--I'm gonna have to break down and buy that $3 bottle of water. #$&%!@# terrorists. Or maybe it's the TSA that's to blame? Who knows.... I just know my wallet is soon going to be $3 lighter for 20 cents worth of water and plastic. :P

P.S. Yeah, I have emails to answer. I'll do that after I've gotten some sleep at the hotel (arrival 6 a.m., LOL!). The supposedly luxurious bed is already calling to me...