This Trip, Part I: 22 March 2011

This trip began somewhat strangely. It was strange because it began at 8 in the evening. Well, it actually began earlier than that because it involved getting on a plane and all the legwork it takes to make that happen. Thanks to wonderful curbside service, I found myself walking into BNA at 6pm. It became immediately apparent that something was different than in my (relatively frequent) previous visits to Nashville "International" Airport.

Being the kind of guy that likes to squeeze every last drop of possible time out of a trip, I seem to always find myself at BNA at 6am (or earlier if the price was get-to-the-airport-even-earlier-than-6am great). The airport is not one of those places that is completely dead early in the morning, despite the best efforts of people like me propping up that notion by constantly booking early flights. It is very likely that you will encounter many people, a disturbingly large portion of whom are large groups of high-school-aged people, wearing flip-flops, sweatpants and in a generally (or completely) incoherent manner. These school trip groups apparently LOVE the early morning departures. Then there are the people that fill the "expert traveler" lane for ID/boarding pass check that are no more an expert traveler than the infant in the stroller they are pushing around in a havoc-wreaking manner. Regardless, it is safe to say that 6am at the airport and 6pm at the airport are two completely different things.

So, as I strode directly up to the Delta self-check-in and baggage drop counter and realized I had the entire Delta customer service universe at BNA to myself at that very moment, I said exactly that to the lady behind the counter. Being at the airport at 6pm feels a lot different than 6am. She agreed, noting that I was on Delta's last flight of the night. To say her customer service was well done and very appreciated would be an understatement. It was almost like it had been so long since she spoon-fed information to a needy customer that she didn't want to miss the chance with me. It was great. SkyMiles card won't scan? No problem, "let me pull it up for you". Your bag is over 50 pounds? No problem, "You're fine". It was weird feeling a momentary sense of sadness that such a pleasant exchange had to end.

The walk around the corner to where the zombie high-schoolers and unfortunate illiterates usually are found was also very different. Not only were neither of the aforementioned population subsets there, nobody was. Just the lane dividers and those signs. In hindsight, I wish I had walked down the lane labeled "I am a complete idiot and am only here to hold up everyone else", just for the experience, but I didn't. I went down "expert" because I wanted to actually walk down that lane and be amazed at how fast I made it through security. And I was. I couldn't resist the urge to share my 6am vs. 6pm thought with the guy checking ID/boarding pass too. Maybe I wanted to make sure that all these BNA employees knew what a stomach-churning experience it is trying to make a flight at 6am. Like they'll go tell their supervisor, "Hey boss, some guy was very happy this evening because we actually were able to do our job in a prompt and friendly manner. Maybe we should try harder to make that happen early in the morning. Maybe?"

All pipe dreams aside, walking directly up to security and not waiting felt like heaven. Like all of sudden, all that is wrong with the world was somehow right. I arrived at the airport 2 hours before my flight and I was at my gate an hour and 50 minutes before my flight. I even realized I had a couple of envelopes to put in the mail before departing, only to find out the airport terminal's out-going mailbox is located "outside" or "in front of" security, depending on who you ask. Regardless, it meant leaving the "secure" part of the building, only to drop two envelopes in the box and then re-enter the secure part. Normally, this would be unheard of. Check ID and boarding pass again. Take off shoes again. Unpack laptop again. Bypass the full-body x-ray scan...not again. I felt like such a conquering hero going through security a second time with literally NO waiting until I paid a price for my good fortune in the form of the dreaded privacy-violating feet-on-the-yellow-footprints-and-hands-in-front-of-your-head thing.

It wasn't that bad. Nobody seemed to be laughing or particularly interested in whatever it was they were seeing, so I moved on through. The rest of the wait was spent calling banks and credit card companies to make sure all of my spending power would be just as powerful overseas as not. Apparently the once-routine practice of making sure your credit cards are "activated" or "approved" for use in other countries isn't so necessary anymore. These calls kept me from fully enjoying my new App Store purchases, Angry Birds: Rio, Tiny Wings and Fruit Ninja. Safe to say, I knew a week-long trip by myself might have a few instances of "down time" needing some quick, mindless entertainment.