Grounded.

I’ve been sitting in the Minneapolis-St Paul airport for the last 2 and a half hours, and it’s given me some time to people watch and place watch.  First off, this is a very nice airport here in the twin cities.  It is very clean and all very new.  They utilized the people movers very well.  I can only describe these as human conveyor belts.  There are even lanes on the belts so there aren’t traffic jams or crashes.  

It’s kind of funny because, except a small percentage of people, I don’t think anyone’s final destination is actually Minneapolis or St. Paul.  I think that this airport is basically a connecting hub to the rest of the US.  When we were landing the stewardess rattled off about 20 connecting flights that were scheduled to fly within the next TWENTY minutes.  My flight was 3 hours later, so I can only imagine how many flights have come and gone in that time.  This airport is basically a doormat for the rest of the country’s destinations.  It’s like you’re almost there, but not quite.  

On a side note, the Nebraska Cornhuskers girls soccer team just went by on a people mover/conveyor belt in front of me.  

People watching has become my main source of fun.  It was originally reading, but I was getting weird looks reading the book, “On Killing”, in an airport.  Of course, if you were reading the book you would know it’s not about killing technique, but the psychological impact of killing.  Anyways, I’ve seen a lot of strange people in the heart of this country.  There’s old people, young people, big people, and small people.  Some have accents, some don’t.  

A lot of people seem to be coming through this airport to go to Montana.  I can tell who is going north by what they’re wearing.  It’s typically camouflage.  Most people are going hunting when they go north.  Something I found very funny was the amount of costumes I’ve seen.  As you probably know, it’s halloween, and the disguises are out in full force.  How can this be allowed in an airport??  The main purpose of a costume is to not look like yourself.  This seems like a serious security threat to anyone who is paying attention.  

Most of the staff behind the counters are wearing costumes.  I’ve seen pirates with swords, witches, and even a tribal outfit, which was awful.  The one I certainly have not seen attempted is the terrorist costume.  Either no one has tried it or they didn’t make it past the curbside check-in.  

Well, next stop, Oklahoma.

Catch you on the flip-side.

-Nick