A Baltic Diversion



30 September 2018

Map: Scandinavia complectens Sueciae Daniae & Norvegiae Regna ex Tabulis, Johann Homann, 1730
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Sunday 30 September 2018--Whose bright idea was it to fly to Amsterdam via Detroit? Delta's...I haven't flown with them for some years, and had a pile of leftover airmiles that needed using. This was the itinerary I got. My flight this afternoon from Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut to Detroit is the first of nine I will take on this year's journey, a bright idea that is all my own--nine flights up and nine flights down, if ye'll gang alang wi' me, m'dear, if ye'll gang alang wi' me*. It started with a chance encounter on Google maps with the Åland Islands, which looked like the sort of remote archipelago I am so often attracted to. If I was going to go there, then it only made sense to visit a few other places around the Baltic Sea. The money I saved on transAtlantic airfare could be used for flights and ferry hops around the region.

One thing I can say for Detroit's airport, the main terminal is easy to understand--it's one long straight line. You can stroll the length of it in twenty minutes, or, if you're not into strolling, take the tram. The tram appears to be articulated, which is to say there is a hinge in the middle, which strikes me funny. It just goes back and forth in a straight line. I suppose there is a sharp bend in the track on the way to the maintenance facility.

I had a pint and a burger at Bradley, and decide to have a meal along with another pint at the Gordon Biersch in Detroit, even though I'm not very hungry. I figure it's going to be my last meal for a while. I've forgotten that full-service airlines like Delta serve meals in-flight. There is entertainment, too, but I'm not interested. I put the flight map up on my seat-back screen, and try to sleep.

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*Reference is to The Devil's Courtship, as performed by the Battlefield Band. The song rattled around in my brain all through the trip.



DTR

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