Air Rail

American airports have a long way to go to catch up to their European counterparts. Every major airport on both sides of the Atlantic has at least one decent business hotel either directly on the property or very close by so that is not the issue. All of them are accessible by major highway as well so again that is not the complaint. It is hard, extremely hard to compare the food court concept at most U.S. airports with the local food offerings at airports in Germany, France and Spain although European airports are just as guilty when it comes to fast food. No, my complaint is the lack of decent public transportation at most of the major airports in the United States and the constant bickering that goes with trying to improve access.
Looking at just public transportation, right now Dallas/Ft. Worth International has a public bus system that runs from the South Entrance in to downtown Dallas after about 90 minutes worth of riding and transfers. This compares to 25 minutes in to town with smooth traffic. Light rail service is being built, similar to the Washington Metro being extended out to Dulles but who knows when that will be completed. For the 3rd busiest airport in the country it is simply shameful that some kind of rail service was never included or at least built in to DFW's master plan.
Atlanta's Hartsfield/Jackson, O'Hare at Chicago, San Francisco and Reagan National at Washington all have subways that run directly in to the terminal building or at least within a short covered walk. Let's compare that to Heathrow where the Underground serves no less than three stops but the Paddington Express offers a hi-speed nonstop option in to the heart of the city as well.
What Heathrow doesn't have is a direct rail link within the national rail system, something Frankfurt and Paris both offer, including the high-speed "ICE" and "TGV," respectively. It is simply amazing to land in Paris and hop a "bullet train" to Brussels, arriving in less than 90 minutes instead of having to back track south in to the city, finding the correct station (out of six) and then making your way back to the Belgian capital. Certainly Amtrak is no match for the French SNCF rail network but it is simply the inter-modal transportation options available elsewhere that I have to wonder how it would enhance traveling here in the United States.
The Swiss set the gold standard for linking various public systems together along with the Dutch. Trains, buses and planes are linked to allow at least one connecting option on any given day from any point in the country to the rest of the world at large without having to use private cars short of driving to the nearest station. Distances are shorter from even the farthest corners of the country but the simple fact is the system is in place and works very well.
National rail service in the United States is all but dead but there are some things that can still be done for most cities. Light rail connections in to town even if it is the only rail service in the entire area would be a start. The regional hi-speed rail systems the current administration is planning would be great to link the major airports a la Charles De Gaulle, too. We need something, and it has to start somewhere.
Gotta go.

Flexible Flying thru Philadelphia

I was coming from somewhere on United Airlines and changing planes at LAX trying to get back to Baltimore where I lived at the time. Like most other people at the end of vacation I was not necessarily looking forward to getting home other than perhaps sleeping in my own bed with my own pillow and enjoying my own shower. This shower had enough power to pressure blast cement and it felt particularly good right between the shoulder blades! It's one of the better ways, I find, to unwind from a long flight in coach.

United was running on time today so that wasn't the problem. The problem was the oversold flight back to Baltimore that started the old lessons in geography flooding back through the fog shrouding my brain. I had a couple of days before needing to be back at work but I was tired just the same and simply wanted to get home. Normally I would have jumped at the offer for an overnight hotel as this was the last nonstop of the day. The flight to Dulles was just as bad with every chance that I would not be high enough of the "confirmed standby" list to make that flight.

The ears perked up when the overworked gate agent clicked through a few more keystrokes and said "Philadelphia looks good." No, she stated, if I took that option I'd be on my own because it was not a "co-terminus" to Baltimore. I'd have to find my own way home after that as United would have considered the trip as "services rendered." No, she further stated, my bags were not retrievable and they would be waiting for me in Baltimore. Again, services rendered so no shot at home delivery either.

I didn't care. I wanted to be on the East Coast and boarded the flight to Philadelphia which for a Dallas Cowboys fan was surely akin to a journey to hell. The flight was uneventful and we landed on time shortly after 10PM. No luggage to check I was ahead of the crowd in getting down to ground level to figure out how I was going to travel the 100 miles south to Baltimore.

The rental cars were curling their mustaches and wringing gnarled hands, cackling in Simon Bar Sinister glee at my predicament as they dreamed of ridiculous one-way rental fees for a car. No airlines were flying between the two at that hour of the night and I wouldn't have lined up for that kind of financial molestation either. I knew I could get a car but prayed it would be a last resort as I looked at the train schedules, hoping for an Amtrak service at that hour of the night.
There was! The connector train rode in from the airport to the 30th Street Station where a departure shortly after Midnight would take me to Baltimore's Penn Station, not even two miles from my front door after a short stop in Wilmington.

It was a fairly quiet evening at the Philadelphia station. Services were limited at that hour of the night but everyone there was more concerned about getting home like me than they were any unusual activity one might believe happens at train stations in the middle of the night. The train arrived and departed with me in a quad of four seats to myself by the window watching Pennsylvania and Delaware sleep the night away. After a 10-minute cab ride from the Baltimore station I was safe at home by 2:30AM.

I'm not one who likes to wrap up trips by counting how many times I could say "At least such and such didn't happen." I was glad to be home and at least in this case, glad it was back to the densely packed East Coast. I could have been trying to get to Minneapolis.
No other major airport for 300 miles!

Gotta go.