I would nod and smile, but I never really understood him when my friend Kevin would tell me of his success or pursuits of the business class upgrade, especially for access to the lounges.
Before today, those doors have remained tinted to me, doors which only opened for others, and over who’s shoulders I could only occasionally catch a glance of the bouncers at the check-in desk.
But today, I feel like Charlie with my “Golden Ticket.” The doors are open to me now, and I have seen the light. Paying $2,000 for a plane ticket is crazy — don’t get me wrong. But every once in a while, it’s fun to put on a costume and step into another world. Today, despite the exhaustion of a 24 hour, 9 minute flight plan, I’m soaking up life like the other guys… and I understand Kevin a bit more.
I mean, after a while, airports all start to look the same. And those duty free shops can only hold your attention for so long (especially now that as Americans we can’t bring in liquid, so perfumes, liquors … and all the good deals we had before are a bit more tricky to navigate). But the lounges … well, first of all, let me assure you — the walls aren’t painted in gold and they do not drip with luxury. But it is a nice, comfortable place to hang out before catching your next flight. And really, if you’re spending 80% of your work time travelling around from airport to airport, it’s the only way to go — keep your sanity, find a quite place to work while traveling, and not having to fight a drooling kid with sticky fingers for one of those hard seats that for some reason are all attached in a row so that when the kid gets the seat at the end of the row and jumps up and down, you can’t think anymore because you’re suddenly sea sick. Yep. I get it a bit more.
So what *are* they like? Well, once you get past the woman at the door who confirms your golden ticket isn’t a fake, you walk in to a room filled with lots of individual chairs — usually small arm chairs. They’re not plush lazy boys, but it’s not entirely dissimilar to a hotel lobby waiting area. Usually on one wall (and in some bigger airports, maybe 2 or 3) is a pantry of sorts where you can help yourself to all kinds of goodies for free… beer, wine, champagne, top shelf bar, soft drinks of every kind; snacks like nuts, pretzels, chips; and some kind of food, of course varying depending on the time of day. Of course, these buffets differ depending on the hosting country — so in Singapore there was duck and fresh mango and wasabi peas. In Frankfurt (where I am writing this now) there are pretzels and hard rolls and 5 different kinds of beer 
On the other wall or corner are the bathrooms — always equiped with showers as well in the case of those very long flights or layovers.
And there is also usually a business section with free computers / internet connection. Though here in Frankfurt, that amounts to a single stand-up kiosk computer. As most people travel with laptops now a days, I’m sure the need for the “mobile offices” popular in the 80s is changing. The Singapore business center did have a fax machine … but it too looked a bit dusty. I did have to buy my wireless access here in Frankfurt … I was surprised by that, something for them to improve on
Another thing I noticed is that the kid with sticky fingers followed me. I wasn’t surprised by the demographic being about 70% men (or more). But I was surprised by the number of young families — couples on their honeymoon, other couples with the Louis Vuitton matching luggage who look like they learned to walk wearing Prada shoes, and babies — literally with silver spoons in their mouths.
You know what else? I think I miss the life and excitement of the real world walking by on the other side of those tinted glass walls.
We arrived Friday night late – hungry. Our guidebook recommended a hole in the wall for noodles they call Saimen. Man, it was rustic, local and quite tasty. Saturday was a tour of one of the state park beaches and a drive north to see the stretch of the island north of us. We visited a little hamburg stand, popped into a grocery store, and road the road till it ends. Beaches along the way are amazing. We were lucky to also be there for Lighthouse Day. When you see our pics, you’ll see some pictures of Great Frigate Birds, Nenes (Hawaii’s mutated Canadian Geese), Red Tailed Tropic Birds (really), Albatross, and some other stuff. The lighthouse was pretty neat too.
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