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