Washington Dulles Airport ...

For those of you who think air travel is fun or exciting, let me rule out the former and elaborate on the later. Last month I flew to Norfolk, Virginia via Washington Dulles Airport. As some of you know, Dulles is my least favorite airport in the world … I’ve been to third world airports that are more efficient. The efficiency part basically held to norms but this time there were at least some silver linings.

On 2 March I departed Frankfurt late and listened to a dead-heading Purser sitting next to me complain about how his team had been treated getting on the flight (I wasn’t real happy either, having been led to believe my upgrade would clear, which it hadn’t). We landed late in Dulles but to my amazement I breezed through customs and would have made my connection had it not been canceled. The good part was that during the 5 hour wait for the last flight to Norfolk I met an American reporter for the magazine “The Economist” while having a beer. If you don’t know the publication, it’s a very strong news magazine … much more cerebral than most, thicker and more expensive. Living in London, she was in the states covering the campaign (her flight to Houston was also delayed; she was linking up with the Obama campaign). At any rate, I had a fascinating conversation hearing her take for the candidates, all of whom she’s been interviewing for years.

I arrived in Norfolk near midnight and the hotel nearer 1 a.m. (the conference started at 8 a.m.) but my suitcase didn’t show up for two full days. Where normally the airlines know where the bag is, this time they had not a clue and I feared for the first time it might truly be “lost” … a very good thing I wear a coat and tie and carry on two days of shirts and underwear J.

Going home on the 8^th and 9^th of March had just as much “excitement”. The weather forecast was less than great, resplendent with a tornado watch for Norfolk and high winds in Washington. My one hour layover looked iffy so I rebooked to an earlier flight out of Norfolk which predictably was late. The overseas flight was also late but it didn’t matter much since my upgrade had cleared. I went to the business class lounge where the only open seat was at the bar. The waitress ignored my signal for another beer and a guy standing next to me calls out loud enough for her to hear … it was a nice gesture and we traded a couple lines before he took his drinks to his seat. When a large flight was called seats opened up and I took one, only then noticing I’m sitting across from the guy and his female partner. After about five or ten minutes I realize she’s Vallerie Bertanelli, having recognized her primarily because I’d looked at her new bestselling book the day prior at a Barnes and Noble. They were late to LA, and a small group of us had a nice, somewhat rowdy, conversation while debating being how many times they could move flight back by 15 or 30 minutes. My flight departed first, 3 hours late.

Score for the trip, 4 flights late, one outright canceled … excitement pure. I’ll give Dulles one thing, since you’re likely to get stuck there you at least might have some interesting conversation.