Detroit! I have never been here during daytime. Always only at night time. Always only going from the airport to an airport hotel in a hotel shuttle bus. Always because I needed to sleep over due to missing my connection flight. I am stuck again. Must be the 3rd or 4th time the past few years.
But Detroit is not the problem and nor is Cleveland, my other popular sleep over destiny. At least I have been to Cleveland in daytime, drove its highways, saw its Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and been to its beaches on Lake Erie (not that I would recommend its beaches as a romantic holiday destination.) The problem is Newark. Newark Liberty Airport to be exact. Newark is the reason why I always see Detroit only at night. I never like to fly from Newark.
Flight delays. That is what Newark is good at. If it's not the weather that's causing the delays, it is the air traffic control that cannot get planes in the air on their scheduled departure time.
"Red, Yellow and Blue"
The "space age" Tunnel of Lights at Detroit airport that link Terminal A to Terminals B and C. The lights constantly change colors.
Oh, and Newark Liberty airport is also famous at continuous building and never seem to finish what they are building. I have been coming to Newark for 12 years and back then they were building or making changes to the highways around the airport and changes to the terminals. They are still at it. The highways are now complete, at lease I think so, but everywhere you see signs that says 'Sorry for the inconvenience, but we're building you a better terminal.” I would like to ask: “Is there anything you can do about air traffic control?”
But I was not totally unprepared for this unwelcome stay over. I packed extra clothes for just in case something like this happened. I don't usually pack extra clothes for other flights, but if you are going to fly Newark to Lexington via Detroit or Cleveland it is always a good idea for just in case. And to add to another tick to Newark's bad reputation and something I WAS unprepared for was the security people taking my toothpaste. The tube was too big they told me. It wasn’t too big on Sunday night when I went through security at Lexington on my way to New York. And it wasn’t too big two weeks ago in Houston when I came back into the country from Mexico. Why suddenly now? Toothpaste tubes must be the TSA’s flavor of the week item because this morning when I went back to the airport for my flight to Lexington they took the toothpaste from the lady in front of me as we went through security. I am sure I had the same look on my face the night before she had on hers, one of total disbelief, when they said to her that her toothpaste tube was too big and that they had to remove it from her luggage.
All in all it must have been a bad day for Delta Airlines because busloads of passengers were shuttled to airport hotels due to delayed flight at Detroit. All at Delta’s expense. Just glad I am back at home again. Oh, did I mention I don’t like flying from Newark?
"Blue Moon"
Heading image courtesy: http://www.detroitunderground.com/detroit/
