It Must Be a Dream...

I've been tracking the details of the volcano erupting in Iceland and the resulting ash cloud over Europe with a little bit of concern, since I'm scheduled to fly to Austria in less than two weeks. In fact, I'm 13 days into my current 53 day stretch of travel, and I'm heading home tonight to use up the second of four days I'll spend at home during that period. Considering all these factors, I'm naturally a little nervous about having my flights be on-time. So arriving at Newark airport tonight for my flight home (before heading to Florida on Tuesday to speak at the Florida's Birding and FotoFest) I was a little dismayed to see cots setup in the Elite Access check-in area for Continental airlines, as a makeshift sleeping area for people who had experienced significant flight delays due to all the cancelled flights to Europe.

You can probably imagine my shock when I got to the security line (remember, I'm at Newark Liberty International Airport, home of some of the rudest airport employees I think I've ever experienced, and the place where I recently experienced a four day delay as highlighted in one of my blog posts). There was nobody in line. And when I say nobody, I actually quite literally mean nobody. Not a single person. I've never seen anything like it at Newark Airport. I thought I must be dreaming. But it was real. Amazing.

So I'm thinking maybe I have some good luck in my favor on this little travel marathon I've got going, so I'm hoping (especially for all the folks who have already experienced major travel delays) that things will return to normal very soon in terms of flights to Europe. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the improbably dream experience at Newark Airport.