Airports [especially US]

what can I say...I hate airports!!!

so for the weekend in Chi-town, I flew out of PHL to ORD.
which is a worse airport, I'm not sure.

PHL - get to aiport w/ an 1hr prior to boarding. Go to check-in baggage[per the new rules] and can't. Why b/c I'm there to late. Huh?? All the airline sites and security sites an hour suggested. They say my bag won't get to the plane in time and I won't get through security in time.[got through in 10min; I didn't fly a hub airline] Really ticks me off; if I didn't have liquid/razor, I could've given it to the gate to check it. Oh, and I was originally 1st class [w/ credit that needed to be used]; but for the next flight I'm in the back[w/o exit row]....then on the return flight; do have 1st class; but as PHL is owned by the unions, we land @ 2am and I don't get my baggage till 3am.

ORD - landing and pickup of car were ok. Return trip....late flight, 9pm. Getting my boarding pass....If I was in the back, I would've had to wait outside for an hour and then inside for 2. [thank god I got there 4+ hrs ahead of time] As I was 1st class; and there were only 2 people in front of me; you would've thought it would be quick. Not So! United in the infinite wisdom; decides on sunday[the start of the work week for business travellers] to run a light staff. So I could check in, but....they only had 2 desk clerks for 15+ e-ticket booths. what genius thought up this plan. Security was a breeze, minus the long line. Then once inside, due to standard ORD issues and weather; the last 3 scheduled flights have been canceled. And I'm now delayed 2hrs; thank god no connection. Due to the delay; of course all books are over booked as well. If I didn't have a morning meeting, I would've taken the voucher deal.

You know prior to 9/11 people still had to get to the airport 1hr or 2 ahead of time. Thus there is no reason that ORD hasn't installed more chairs. Making the 2nd load of passengers sit on the floor. Granted everything was delayed; so every empty floor area was taken; as was the sides of the moving walkways.

Lovely security...the extra hassle of security doesn't bother me; I guess I travel a lot. The pat down and wands and remove the shoes and so forth are not a big deal. Though do I feel more secure, not really.[though I do feal it's maybe lessened the chances of whatever] I've been in communist countries, through zones of civil strife, and been in airports when #$%$#@ have been found or imploded. When I look @ the security equipment the USA uses versus the rest of the world, I think of the cold war days. The security is so old and each aiport is setup differently that it doesn't shock me that items get through.

Laptops...Why do you need to remove your laptop? can't an x-ray read through the bag? [it's not people are carrying around lead laptop cases]

Shoes...now if they actually had good machines which could check for explosives when you walk through them, removing them wouldn't be necessary. [if someone can figure out how to put explosives in a shoe, they certainly can do the same w/ a belt, a liner in shirt or trousers.]

knives, clippers, etc...ok this is amazing to me. so you prevent these devices from entering an aiport, but you provide them on a plane in 1st class; and per all the movies about prison you can create a shank from a toothbrush. [why not smash a glass, or u can cut someone w/ broken plastic, hell stab them w/ pen.

liquids...this theory has existed long before the most recent london issue.[But...if mules will cary coke/heroin in an ingested condom, what's to prevent someone from doing that w/ other stuff]

finally baggage....this one is ingenius to chicago 1 week ago. So all the flights are delayed, and of course everthing is buggered up. So I hear on the loud speaker 'due to delays, lost baggage cannot be claimed, your baggage will be at your final destination.' So if I get this correct...all the security rules to prevent your baggage from flying when you're not on the plane, has just been nullfied.

[pardon my imagination, I've read to many history books and seen too many movies]

Rants...

Well here goes my Rants post of the ....

well let's start w/ airlines and airports...actually due to the anniversary today, I'll postpone that till tomorrow.

Chicago....
Traffic - I was in chi-town this past weekend. I believe chicago may have the worst traffic in the US. Sure LA and NYC have lots of traffic; but at least they have many options. Chicago has 2 options for going north/south. NYC has between 2-3million people commuting in/out every day; and although there is plenty of traffic it always clears b/t 3-7; chicago could go from 2-8. And most of the road is under construction; which just adds to the madness. Luckily I put my chinese driving lessons to the test, and people did move out of the way for me...but I was afraid of getting shot as well.

So they have the interesting double decker trains; but why won't anyone put in a highspeed ferry or maybe a hovercraft(to account for the ice). That alone would save a lot of congestion.

Road design - what moron decided to put a toll @ the o'hare exit which has not cash option. It's either exact change or ezpass.

Suburbs - quite odd; as you head up I-94 or such; near the hwy there's lots of corporate parks; but get off and you're miles away from the suburbs; and in a mix of farms and junk yards.

Parking - try finding a free place to park in the city. I was stuck driving around town till 6pm due to my flight restriction. The parking in garages was more expensive then NYC; quite an amazing feat. So I got tired of walking up and down michicagn ave; and thought maybe I could go to a park and read; and there are plenty of open spaces about; but you need to pay to go to all of them. So either I neeeded to drive back north to the upper suburbs(parking is free there) or drive about....well I drove about and then opted to go to the airport...[thank god I did...more on that tomorrow]

Cars....

Ah!!! I love cars and hate them all at the same time; they're not much different the boats or planes. Although I do like some of the ICE [in car entertainment]; I think we should go back to simple carburetors and transmissions.

So I've made the same mistake 2x; b/c of a good deal...which alone I should've questioned. I got 2 new models of cars...one was supposed to have fixed all the issues of it's lineage[not so!]. And the other my current love/hate; has all the bells and whistles, goes really quick, gets good mileage, and is good for the environment...yes as all cars now are conglomeration of parts; there is 1 part which continues to make my life a living hell every 15-20G miles.

So now I've decided I need to get this fixed 1 last time; and trade it in. As I'm now only on extended warranty. So I now go down the line....how fast; how much space; how practical; etc. Too many choices....1/2 of me says go pratical, spend the money elseware(travel, etc); they other 1/2 say....you only live once; get whatever you can afford - sure fuel is expensive relatively[the US is cheap; compared to elseware].

Boat....
And a BOAT...which stands for Bet On Another Thousand. So who want's a boat? 24' cutty cabin; w/ dual I/O OMC 150hp w/ cobra outboards? To much time and money for me to waste w/ it.

well now I'll go and rest a bit...low on sleep due to airport woes...more tomorrow.