Lindbergh Terminal I

I probably could have planned my trip better, but it worked out that my plane from Chicago to Portland (OR) through Minneapolis had a 3 1/2 hour layover in MN. To make matters worse, the pilot on the Chicago-Minneapolis leg of the trip proudly announced we would be arriving early in the Twin Cities, thus giving me nearly four hours to spend in the capacious Lindbergh terminal. These two essays tell you how I decided to spend that time.

At first I thought I would just get something to eat, settle down with some materials I picked up at the Fermi (particle physics) Lab Visitor Center on Saturday, July 24, and learn all that I could about muons, particles colliding at high speeds and how we need to invest money in this kind of technology. But shortly after de-planing, if that is a word, I decided on a different strategy. When I was last in this airport, I had to travel what I remembered was an exceedingly long distance between gates. I decided that this time I would pace off the Lindbergh terminal to see actually how far it was from one end to the other. This had the added benefit of giving me a lot of exercise, since I was carrying my clothes bag and computer bag, stuffed with various things. No roll bags for me. Thus, as I sit here catching my breath in front of Einstein's Bagels after my walk, which I calculated as a little more than 3 miles (see below), I do so with the satisfaction that I have exercised for the day...

My Plan

I arrived at Terminal D, the stubbiest of them all, and decided I would count my paces from the farthest wall of Terminal A (near Gate A14), all the way to Terminal G. I confess, however, that I ended my counting of steps upon arrival at the open area where many of the "G" gates were. Thus, this essay doesn't give you all steps to the end; it is a pretty accurate count, however. One other caveat. My stride is at least 39 inches; thus when I number my steps, as the Bible would have it, I realize that my steps represent more than the corresponding number of yards.

Well, I walked and walked to get to the beginning of my task. In fact, that isn't a bad lesson in life--often you have to go a great distance just to find your bearings in life, to "begin," as it were. Some people don't ever really begin their lives; for many others the purposeful journey doesn't really commence until their 40s or 50s. So it was for me. I walked what I felt was forever to get to A14 on the South side of the terminal, but finally I was there. I looked at the gate information--a flight to Louisville. Those poor folks. They had to go a mile from the main mall of the airport just to get to their gate. Of course there are trams and moving walkways, but I have to think that if the former Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) was from KY rather than ID, he would have had so much travel/walk time that he may have reconsidered whether he would stick his foot into another guy's stall in the main men's restroom on the mall had he arrived at gate A14 rather than a gate closer to the bathroom. I felt almost as bad for the people going to Des Moines (A13) or places in WI (A12), but I didn't let my compassion overwhelm me.

The rest of this essay and the next two will tell you what I learned and thought about along the way. I conveniently tie my thoughts to distances. Numbers on the left represent strides from the beginning of my walk--at Gate A14.

400 It dawned on me this would be a very long trip when I got to step 400 and was still in Terminal A. Indeed, at step 400 I was near gate A2, and a host of people were there waiting to board a flight to Wichita, KS. I lived in the vicinity of Wichita for six years (1990-96), and so I scanned the crowd to see if I knew anyone. Of course, I didn't. Yet I was close enough to others in the crowd that a line began to form behind me. So, I quickly left and continued on my way.

440 My first quarter-mile (or a little more, really) was complete, and I was standing outside Caribou Coffee. They had a luncheon "special" on the board. For $8.99 (they didn't mention tax; it would probably be more than 10%) one could get a sandwich, chips and drink. I mulled that one and decided to pass on it. I did go into Caribou because I knew that one of their trademark offerings throughout the midwest is to have free wireless internet for patrons. I had already been turned off by the fact that the Airport authority was advertising the availability of wireless internet througout the the airport but, as I soon discovered, it was Boingo all the way $7.95 just to hook up). Why, I wondered, can Portland and San Diego and other airports offer free wireless internet to its patrons while all these other airports can't? People often say with a lot of bravado and even anger burning in their eyes that the USA is the "best country in the world." Not with respect to free wireless internet. Not by far.

So, I stopped in at Caribou to see if they had free wireless internet here. Not on your life. I made a note of the cost of the meal, but figured I would never return.

520 I arrive at the short escalator going up to the rest of the airport--that is Terminals C-G (B is in a wing near A). Up I go and now am on the long haul of Terminal C. It provided me a long time to think. I mused about what people do in airports--there are literally tens of thousands of person hours spent in this airport just in the time I am here. How do people use their time? What do we want people to do when confined in this space? Well, if you look at the directory of services in the airport, it looks as if the model selected is the mall and food court model. You can buy food, clothes, other objects, and a few services here. Not much else. There are "work areas," but unless you have sold your soul to Boingo, you aren't going to be able to do much here (Maybe I just need to get an Iphone). Food and Retail. Then, there seem to be an inordinately large number of bathrooms, but this seems logical, since there is so much food sold here.

But it got me thinking. If I were to design a portion of an airport, even a room slightly larger than a large restaurant, what would I do? I would design a "learning room." People would flock into it, I hope, and it would recognize people as having much more to offer than simply their money. The idea is this. People could pay a small amount (perhaps $5 for an hour) and then have access to a program of learning options. One of them would relate to the place where we were. If they "clicked" on Minnesota, for example, they would be given loads of options--history of Minneapolis and vicinity, map of Minneapolis with things to do, a "virtual tour" of various parts of the city/area, tours of old homes, a visit to the art museum with major paintings portrayed and described, etc. The list is endless. All one would have to do would be to put together small programs on each one of these topics.

This would be the "local option" subject. But let's say also that there would be a "Civil War" option, where one could click on a general map of the war, specific maps for various battles, battle plans, texts of leading historians describing aspects of the fight, video clips of various things, etc. One could have a virtual tutorial on the American Civil War that would last about 50 minutes. One could multiply this almost without limit. One could have a tour of a distinguished botanical garden, with flowers/plants identified; one could have a "boat tour" down the Mississippi or whatever river one was near. Various historical narratives could combine primary with secondary sources and lots of pictures/videos to give a person a snapshot on an aspect of knowledge. One might even have one-hour tutorials in various languages, led by native speakers, so that one could build upon one's foreign language proficiency while in the airport. In fact, it could be a little university of sorts, introducing people to subjects as diverse as the Code of Hammurabi in antiquity to a description of the proposed plan for health care reform in America. Woulnd't you like to put some money down for this kind of option? Oh, yes, I am still numbering my steps.

Well, lots of steps still to take. The next essay continues my thoughts and journey.

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