3/23/2009

Tollways & A Warm Cookie Upon Checkin - Travel Reflections

I'm in the Chicago area for a few days, attending a ministry assessment center. Today was a lot of filling in circles with a #2 pecil. But it's going well. I'm hoping to gain some cood insight into my ministry calling, passions, vision for the future, etc.

I'm not used to traveling alone. It's not my favorite. I like to have my wife to share things with. I don't like eating places by myself. I never like sleeping in a new bed--especially without my wife next to me. It's just kind of lonely. Thankfully, I've had a few phone calls (and made a few more).

I still don't get moving walkways everywhere in airports. When I'm about to spend (or have just spent) a few hours sitting in a small seat with no elbow room and a tray jammed against my knees, I want to get in all the walking I can get. I can understand needing to get from one place to another quickly, but isn't that why God invented speed walking?

I do love the Dyson brand hand dryers in the washrooms in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. They're very effective. I'm sure they're crazy expensive, but they'd be a fun toy to have around.

One of the things I've noticed on my quests to find something to eat is the amount of food that fast food restaurants give. This is kind of a new observation for me, because usually we just order a few things and spilt it amongst our family. But I'm alone. And those are a lot of fries that come with a combo.

I had a meal at Panera tonight (I'm not used to all this eating out--it takes me too long to decide what I'm in the mood for . . . and what I want to pay for). There was a group of "tween-agers" around the 12-year old range. What kind of kids hang out at a Panera? This is quite an up-scale area. I guess that's the answer.

That's all for tonight. I need to go finish some forms, chat with my wife, read a little and get some sleep. Thanks for listening.

4 comments:

Jane D. said...

Good to hear some bits and pieces about your time in Chicago. Anxious to hear more...when you want to share.

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SueAtGraceCorner said...

Dave, having just returned from Chicago myself, I can say that (1) those moving walkways are a God-send for people who are toting heavy luggage but need to keep moving, giving their weary arms a break; and (2) when you're late for a flight, being able to cover the distance down the concourse in even less time can make all the difference. My daughter and I even did a little experiment: we walked at the same pace, with me on the walkway and her beside it. I was about 1/3 of the distance ahead of her at the end of it. So they do help when time is of the essence or you're encumbered beyond your physical capacities.

Rev. Dave said...

You're right, Sue. I was being a bit smug about the moving walkways.

On my return flight, we sat on the runway for about a half hour, then shuttled back to the gate so they could check out a mechanical problem, which turned out to be nothing, so then we had to wait again to get into our spot in the queue.
Upon arrival in MSP, we had to wait at the gate because of a mechanical problem there. They ended up putting us at another gate.
The shuttle to the baggage claim was broken, so we had to walk through several terminals to get there. I did use the moving walkway when that was the only option, but I found I could walk faster off it than on (because there was more mobility).
Upon getting to baggage claim, I walked from 14 down to 2 where it said our luggage would arrive (I wasn't planning on checking baggage, but while waiting to get to my seat, it became obvious that there wasn't going to be room for my suitcase in the overhead bins, so I volunteered to have it checked since I would have to wait for Beth to get done with work to pick me up anyway). I waited for a while with the other passengers there before they said that our baggage would now be arriving at 13. It was quite the evening.