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Three Airports, Three Thoughts
Jan. 7th, 2008 09:23 pmI.
Once upon a time flying was a special, inaccessibly expensive event in one's life, but in recent years, with commutes and transfers and schedules and the like, I've come to agree with my former roommate on the sentiment that an airplane is just a glorified, airborne kind of bus.* All the same, looking at the flight paths for the airplanes I get into makes for an odd perception of the world: the flight crew seems to jaunt around the entire country over the course of a day, day after day. How does it affect one's idea of distance, to start your day in Chicago and end it in New York with a visit to Phoenix in between? Do the far-flung cities of this thinly spread country start to feel like the various suburbs of a metropolis, the way you can pass through a dozen suburbs in the course of your daily commute and errands without a second thought? It might be interesting – if costly and environmentally callous – to spend a day just hopping from flight to flight, try to make a round trip of the country in 24 hours, or something like that. You wouldn't actually experience the country, any more than you experience the unique feel and subtly different culture of each neighbourhood in the metropolis, but it would certainly be ... something.
II.
Dear U.S. Customs,
Please have more than one customs official processing people through the bus terminal at the border, and preferably not the guy who's supposed to be handling the orange slips over at the special window. If it was two in the morning I might understand, but during daylight hours on a weekday it would be nice if you made it look as though you realized large groups of people need to get somewhere by a certain time.
On the other hand, I do appreciate how you have mellowed out a little bit and can sustain an interrogation in light, conversational tones. It only took six years!
Might I make some decorating suggestions? How about this: fewer decals with eagles and stripes and bossy bold letters and stuff, and more old-timey photos of the border and its people in the by-gone days of yore-e-gone. You know, make your country seem like a nice place to call home, rather than the nurse's office at a high school. The dog is a nice touch, but I think everyone would be happier if he could get his tummy rubbed occasionally.
You know what's really weird? Taking off from the Burbank airport and seeing the Warner Bros studio lot from the same angle at which it appears in the studio's title card in front of movies. 'S like ... whut? I seen that afore!
*This was the same roommate who once described trail riding as 'sitting on the back of a large mammal walking slowly.' She had a special way with words ...
Once upon a time flying was a special, inaccessibly expensive event in one's life, but in recent years, with commutes and transfers and schedules and the like, I've come to agree with my former roommate on the sentiment that an airplane is just a glorified, airborne kind of bus.* All the same, looking at the flight paths for the airplanes I get into makes for an odd perception of the world: the flight crew seems to jaunt around the entire country over the course of a day, day after day. How does it affect one's idea of distance, to start your day in Chicago and end it in New York with a visit to Phoenix in between? Do the far-flung cities of this thinly spread country start to feel like the various suburbs of a metropolis, the way you can pass through a dozen suburbs in the course of your daily commute and errands without a second thought? It might be interesting – if costly and environmentally callous – to spend a day just hopping from flight to flight, try to make a round trip of the country in 24 hours, or something like that. You wouldn't actually experience the country, any more than you experience the unique feel and subtly different culture of each neighbourhood in the metropolis, but it would certainly be ... something.
II.
Dear U.S. Customs,
Please have more than one customs official processing people through the bus terminal at the border, and preferably not the guy who's supposed to be handling the orange slips over at the special window. If it was two in the morning I might understand, but during daylight hours on a weekday it would be nice if you made it look as though you realized large groups of people need to get somewhere by a certain time.
On the other hand, I do appreciate how you have mellowed out a little bit and can sustain an interrogation in light, conversational tones. It only took six years!
Might I make some decorating suggestions? How about this: fewer decals with eagles and stripes and bossy bold letters and stuff, and more old-timey photos of the border and its people in the by-gone days of yore-e-gone. You know, make your country seem like a nice place to call home, rather than the nurse's office at a high school. The dog is a nice touch, but I think everyone would be happier if he could get his tummy rubbed occasionally.
III.Have a nice day,
Tealin
You know what's really weird? Taking off from the Burbank airport and seeing the Warner Bros studio lot from the same angle at which it appears in the studio's title card in front of movies. 'S like ... whut? I seen that afore!
*This was the same roommate who once described trail riding as 'sitting on the back of a large mammal walking slowly.' She had a special way with words ...
