But This Is What I Have To Say About Airports

I am a little depressed that I've reached an age where I go to airports instead of bus stations.  From the age of 18 until 25, when (at the time) you could legally rent a car, I rode buses back & forth all across Texas.  Mostly these bus rides were uninteresting, but I did have some minor adventures.  I met a sad divorcee running from her husband on a bus ride from Laredo to Austin, who might have wanted to kiss me if I had shown any interest.  I watched a crazy person get kicked off a bus somewhere near Temple - after the bus driver took pity on the person, who was hitchhiking, & let him get on the bus for free.  (The bus driver didn't know he was also welcoming this oaf's bottle of cheap hooch.)   Outside the big bus terminal in Dallas, I was either mistaken for a narc - or almost set up for an arrest - by a fellow who dropped a bag of pot in front of me as I passed.  Needless to say, I did not pick up the bag on the ground.  I started to say something like, "Hey! You dropped something!" but quickly realized the situation was hinky & walked on.

Airports used to be fun.  It was fun to meet a loved one at the gate.  I knew some people who'd go to airports after hours to shoot dumb drunk movies.   Airports lost their shit over ten years ago but I remember going to the bar to sit & wait for someone.  Now it's all baggage claim.  Everyone gathered at baggage claim.  Often at the bottom of an escalator.  It's stupid & unromantic.

More than that, I just don't like airports.  I am more comfortable with vending machines than I am with franchise restaurants.  I like that you can survey an entire bus terminal (well, at least in the South) with a glance; an airport occupies huge acreage.  & let's face it - you feel safer in a bus terminal.  Except for that one movie - jeez, was Denzel Washington in it? what is the name of that film? - no one's really thinking about blowing up buses.  No one.

(I just did a google search.  It's a Don Cheadle film, actually, called "Traitor."  It's not bad.  Sorry for the mix-up.)

Planes are somewhat more convenient than buses, it's true.  A trip from Lexington to Dallas takes 19 hours (!) & costs nearly two hundred bucks.  The same trip costs twice as much - & has an annoying connection in some random city, often in the opposite direction where you're heading - but takes six or seven hours.  That wins!

Even if it means spending downtime in airports.  Which are some of the saddest, loneliest places on the planet.