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.
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