One of the surprising (to me) things about living in Montreal is that plane fares to the United States are more expensive than plane fares to Europe, which would be fabulous except for guilt and sanity demanding that our budget go towards loved ones in the US, instead of more exploratory travel.  (Though if our families were reasonable about all of this, they’d surely agree that having Christmas in London or Paris or Reykjavik is the way to go.)

At any rate, I tend to choose flights with ample layovers, Just In Case.  I know most people aren’t crazy about voluntarily hanging around in airports on busy holiday travel days, but pity my poor traveling companions: I like to spend extra layover time tramping happily around the airport, stretching my legs, checking out the architecture and the vending machines, and people-watching.  When Pete and I left for Thanksgiving last week, I was particularly jazzed that we’d have a layover in Detroit; I distinctly remembered the monorail that they have in one terminal, which provides endless amusement for travelers at a loose end.  But en route to the monorail, we ended up going through DTW’s light tunnel.  And by “going through,” I mean “rode the moving walkway back and forth at least three times while I took pictures.”

That’s right: wake up before 5 am to catch your flight, and get rewarded by a photo session with me during your layover. When else would you feel more photogenic?

I was all excited about taking more photos in the light tunnel on our trip back, but apparently the cheapest return flight (with suitably long layover) between Cleveland and Montreal when I booked our tickets was via a distinctly not-on-the-way Chicago. But right when I was contemplating fleeing to the bus terminal and taking the Van Galder back to Madison, we ended up in Chicago’s own light tunnel, which I last visited years and years ago while making a run for the Madison bus.

I’d originally thought that Detroit’s light tunnel was a pale imitation of O’Hare’s, but now I’m not so sure; I kind of prefer the smooth glassiness of Detroit’s.

At any rate, you may color me thoroughly amused. This is why I like long layovers.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under bits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.