On the road again

A mere two weeks after my adventures in Peru, I find myself once more in the airport.  This time, I'm on my way to Boise, Idaho, for a long weekend with my family.  It's allegedly the first time all of my family will be in the same place since my sister Ashley got married some unknown number of years ago.  Whether that's true or not, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and having another mini-vacation before settling into the very non-vacation mode of late summer and fall.

And since the airport has free wifi, I've set aside my latest issue of Foreign Policy (current article: Does Obama have a grand strategy? Do we care?) to record some choice vignettes:

1.

[10:00am this morning -- at work]
Tim:  When do you have to leave today?
Me:  Not until 5:00pm -- I'm flying out of DCA, so I'll just take the metro.
Tim:  Did you know that Jeff messed up one day and went to DCA, when he was actually supposed to fly out of Dulles?  It was a complete disaster!  Can you believe that?
Me:  Oh, yeah, a friend of mine did that in New York!  She was supposed to go to La Guardia but went to Newark instead!  That's why I'm always really careful about the airport.
[3:00pm this afternoon -- after I actually looked at my itinerary]
Me:  I need to leave a little earlier than originally planned.
Tim:  Oh?
Me:  Remember that story about Jeff and the airports?  Well, it turns out...

2.

[At the United check-in counter, at Dulles airport]
Me:  Excuse me, I have a quick question.
Attendant:  Sure, are you going to Paris?
[!!!!!]
Me:  No.

3.

[On the train from the main terminal to the various lettered terminals; the train stops at Terminal A]
Daughter:  Mom, is this where we get off?
Mother:  [after a deep sigh with closed eyes]  Yes.  The feeling says this is the right stop -- it just feels right.  Let's get off here.
[I considered pointing out that the boarding ticket in her hand would confirm whether the "feeling" was right or not -- but then I realized it was much more interesting if (a) she was actually relying on divination to navigate the airport, or (b) had already consulted her boarding ticket and was pretending to rely on divination to navigate the airport]