Moving time

Today's journey began with tension and ended in a nice place after a ton of work.

At the airport this morning, a large group of frustrated travelers were trying to get home to New York after being stranded in RDU due to weather in the NY area. Delta, which we were flying, was trying to check in many angry travelers in line in front of us. One arrived about an hour and fifteen minutes before his flight, which is simply not early enough on a Monday morning unless you get lucky. He didn't. He reached the front of the check-in line about twenty minutes before his flight's departure time, at which point the Delta agent told him he was out of luck. The agent was right, if a bit cold about the whole thing. The guy freaked, started shaking and yelling and cursing occasionally, and the agent who'd been helping him called a supervisor. The supervisor clearly got annoyed, and for a minute or so I thought we might get to see airport security in action.

Fortunately, we finished our check-in process, the understandably angry man gained control of himself, and when we left the original agent was trying to find him a way home.

The remainder of my flight experience was blissfully drama free. Due to the magical world of airline pricing, a world that makes Harry Potter look mundane, a Delta first class ticket had been my cheapest option for this trip. I played with my iPhone in the gate for a few minutes and read some email on it, boarded, and flew to Atlanta without incident.

But also without getting enough work done. As it turns out, the Delta seats, at least in first class, contained on their backs small displays that offered a wide variety of movies, TV shows, music, and even games. They were spiffy devices that combined with the nice layout of our 757 to make the flight, well, fly by. I unfortunately discovered Bookworm on the display in front of me and pleasantly wasted more than a few minutes on it.

We landed in Atlanta on time and had a tight connection, so off we hustled. As luck would have it, our outgoing flight was delayed 20 minutes, so our shuttle ride was easy, and we made the gate with no trouble.

A pleasant lunch, work, more Bookworm, more work, and we even made up ten minutes of the delay--an excellent flight.

I stayed in the terminal for fifteen minutes to send some urgent work email, courtesy of PDX's free wireless, for which I commend them. Our luggage was just coming around the belt when we arrived, and our car was ready.

Finding our lodging, the Jupiter Hotel, which we were trying for the first time, proved to be blissfully easy. It's a funky place, a reconditioned motel with chalk in every room for writing on your door, fun furnishings, and a great atmosphere--but, at least today, worthless Internet access. After twenty-five minutes of being unable to do any work email, we packed up, checked out, paid a thankfully small cancellation fee, and moved across town to The Heathman Hotel, whence I write this posting.

We went from funky to classic swanky, but I don't mind at all. My Internet access is wired and wonderfully fast, my room is great, and I'd already planned to eat a tasting menu here Wednesday. I quite like this place and see why Bourdain recommended the hotel. It's also only a few blocks from Higgins Restaurant, where I enjoyed my third dinner. I still rank it below Portland's other top-drawer restaurants, but I quite enjoyed my meal.

I've yet, however, to encounter the ghost that legend (at least per Bourdain) says haunts an elevator shaft here. Maybe I'll get lucky yet.

Long day, but for a travel-heavy one, better than most.