Want to read Part 1 of this story? Click HERE. Otherwise, enjoy…

Tears, snorts, hugs and laughter were shared at the airport as Walter boarded the British Airways 747. Both of his parents were at the airport, even Willie and Woslo had shown up from Paris and lots of people from the village. Although sad, Walter’s best friend, Carlos the Crab had arrived and was up to no good.  His favorite thing to do was to tickle people.  There were a lot of tears, but a lot of laughter.  It took Walter forever to say goodbye to everyone and as he strolled onto the plane he let out a tiny little tear.  As the plane took off and slowly climbed to 35,000 feet, Walter smiled and thought of all the people he was going to help working for the United Nations. He fell asleep, snoring very loudly.  Zzzzz, snort, Zzzzz, snort.

7 ½ hours later, the plane landed at JFK and Walter awoke. A few of the passengers on the plane gave him some strange looks because of the snoring. Walter just smiled at them and let out a snort.  He walked off the plane and headed to customs where they checked Walter’s passport and work permit.  “Everything’s in order Mr. Warthog, enjoy your time in New York City,” the customs officer said.  “Thank you ever so much,” Walter replied.  From there Walter grabbed his luggage and stepped outside the airport. “Oh my goodness,” Walter muttered to himself.  Outside of the airport it was total chaos. Busses, cars, taxicabs, busy people running around – Walter took a deep breath and thought. “I need to get to my hotel.”

When Walter accepted the job offer, he was told that a limousine would pick him up at the airport and take him directly to the hotel. Walter would check in, perhaps do a little sightseeing, get a good nights sleep, and report to work the next morning.  After all, he had a lot of important work to do for the United Nations. As Walter looked around outside of the airport he saw a limousine parked about 100 yards away. That had to be his limousine he thought, it was the closest one.  Walter trudged down to the limo with his luggage, saying hello, smiling and snorting as he passed other travelers and reached the limousine.  The limousine was very long and shiny.  He opened up the back door, threw in the luggage and sat down in luxury.  The interior was spotless and beautiful. There was a television, video games, refrigerator, sunroof, snack bar, you name it! “I must be the luckiest Warthog alive!” Walter said.  He sat there patiently, reviewing some the paperwork the United Nations had sent to him.  The flight had been long and Walter was still tired.  He had been up very late for his going away party and slowly, very slowly, Walter drifted into a deep sleep in the very comfortable limousine. Zzzzz, snort, Zzzzz, snort. Walter was fast asleep.

When Walter finally awoke from his nap, he found himself in a big garage with other limousines. “Oh my goodness,” he said, “This isn’t the Crown Plaza Hotel.”  He quickly gathered his stuff and got out of the limo. There were limousines everywhere, it seemed like they went on forever.  Walter headed to the very end of the garage where it looked like there might be an office. Luckily his big suitcase had wheels on it.  A few minutes later, he arrived and entered the office but no one was there. He went outside and saw someone that was cleaning a limousine. “Excuse me sir, is there no one in the office today?” Walter questioned.  “Not at the moment buddy, they’re all on break.”  Walter thought about this, how did this happen?  “Well which way is the Crown Plaza?”  The man stopped cleaning and laughed. “The Crown Plaza, in Manhattan?” “It’s thataway” And the man pointed, chuckling.  “Thank you for your help” Walter responded and nodded respectfully. So with his big, heavy suitcase on wheels, Walter started walking in the direction the good man had pointed. The Sun staring right down on him.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 3

So, the first of this series focuses on the blog Stuck at the Airport by Harriet Baskas.  I’m a travel junkie and absolutely adore airports. I wasn’t lucky enough to travel through JFK and see the Eero Saarinen TWA terminal during its heyday, but I would have truly appreciated it. To provide a little background, I’ve been fortunate to travel frequently. My favorite airport is Singapore’s Changi and as an Indianapolis resident, I started the the IND Flickr group. Through my work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, I convinced Patrick Smith, author of Ask the Pilot, to write a beautiful, compelling blog post, The Jetliner as Art. I love airports, traveling and planes.

The beautiful sterile Changi

But enough about me.

I stumbled upon Harriet’s work in the first half of 2009 through some general research about airports and travel. I immediately became a fan of her blog and the many travel, airport and airline related articles she crafts. As it often happens in the online world, we exchanged e-mails, blog comments, and tweets. I remember thinking how cool it was that I could easily connect with someone that I respected. Harriet is a wonderful commentator on the state of modern travel, specifically the culture of airports, airline industry, quirky happenings and the latest in TSA occurrences. Beyond that, Harriet is a pretty big fan of museums, a talented and award winning radio producer, contributor to USA Today & MSNBC, author and much more.  It’s not often I meet someone who shares my passions – travel, airports, airlines, museums and so on. And she’s an expert!

Stuck at the Airport

After some communication, Harriet featured me in one her blog posts – Airport fans: yes, there are some – which made me feel pretty chuffed. Harriet and Stuck at the Airport made this series, because she’s an example of intelligent internet publishing. Harriet is not only active on her blog, online publications and other sites, but synthesizes her content through Twitter (@hbaskas) in a way that is engaging and interesting. Her multiple online methods of communication are fully integrated and connected to reveal her content, her stories. So many people fail at this.

Travel is one of the most rewarding things we can do in life. It’s inspiring, challenging, sometimes life-changing and hard work. Travel helps us understand this world and the beauty of cultural diversity. Harriet has created the perfect job.  So the next time you are planning a trip, in the midst of traveling or stuck at the airport, check out Harriet’s work. She’s totally worth it.

Stuck at the Airport

Her column on USA Today

Her column on MSNBC

And, as part of this “May I present to you…” series, I plan on always asking a series of questions. So here goes -

What drives you? Personally, generally?  General curiosity, mostly.  Oh.. and coffee. That’s what led me to traveling around to visit unusual and offbeat museums for a long running series of radio stories and for books. And that’s what got me stuck at the airport that one day when I decided there needed to be a guide to all the other things (besides waiting) to do at airports.

….Thank you to Harriet for participating in the very first, May I present to you…., series. Stay tuned for the next installment, and if you have someone you think I need to feature, please let me know.