When in Rome...

Most of this has happened alone though.

On Boxing Day, Lea, Oliver and I made the journey back to Indianapolis from Las Vegas. Man, does traveling change with a 15 month old. We left Las Vegas and made the four hour trip to Charlotte. The US Airways staff were so helpful to us. Everyone fears a baby on a long flight.We all made it. The hard part was over.

But it wasn’t. Delay. Long delay.

We were hungry. So we decided to eat. We got ice cream as a treat. We walked around. It got old fast.

Our son Oliver is obsessed with walking around. He’s masterful at cutting people off. He has no regard for beeping golf carts. He’s especially fond of people movers. He’s a skilled zig zagger. Lea and I took shifts. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It was a never ending relay race. And honestly, him standing in the middle of the people mover blocking people late for flights, kind of gets old.

I’ve had some exhausting travel experiences – 36 hour trips, four flights in a day, days stuck in an airport, emergency landings, etc., but I must say, this delay was getting to me. I was stressed, tired, and desperate to get my family home. And of course I wasn’t exactly the best company. I decided to give Lea a break (mostly from me). Oliver and I headed towards the magical land of people movers, rocking chairs (yes they have them at CLT) and a giant airplane mobile. He smile was massive.

We found all of these things. And a piano. Someone was playing.

I picked up O and walked over. It was classical music. And really good classical music – like a savant was playing.

It was a teenager playing, part of a nuclear family of 5. He played most of the music. His sister jumped in from time to time. The younger brother did a clarinet solo. The parents looked on as they played piece after piece with immense pride. I wanted to call my sister and ask her what the pieces were. I thought it was Chopin. I was probably wrong. But I do know this was of a very high caliber. So did everyone else.

This kid was incredible

This family had the entire airport mesmerized. Everyone that passed stopped to soak it in. I stood there holding Oliver for twenty minutes. Oliver couldn’t believe the way this kid used the keys. Neither could I. We put money in their tip jar after every song. Other desperate parents brought their kids up for some respite. It was the most beautiful scene I’ve ever experienced at an airport.

I returned to Lea in a decidedly better mood and renewed spirit. We managed to get on another flight to IND.

Life was good. Life was beautiful. And Oliver enjoyed the flight home.

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.