Monday, December 14, 2009

Dec. 8.09 10:00 Mountain time, at DEN


Arrived at Denver International Airport. It is big.

I really would've loved to get some photos of the massive tunnels leading from the jet bridge through to the security gates. I wish I would've stopped even though the signs insisted that photographs were prohibited in that area, but I'm a nervous traveller. Heaven forfend I break a rule. The tunnels were incredible, all arching and desolate once my fellow passengers had raced away in front of me. There are several connected hallways, all of them a significant incline so that you cannot look ahead, you have to look up to move forward. The floors are wide and arched, leaving the middle a fair bit higher than the sloped sides. It was a very lonely kind of beautiful, very grey and institutional, but the arch and elevation imbues the suprisingly long journey with a sense of hope. Like salvation or companionship is just on the other side. What a perfect metaphor for life, considering the multiple Customs and Border Services/security areas are all that lie immediately ahead.

The scope of the rest of the buliding is just as massive. After the customs checkpoints you pass through a "great hall" where the TSA security gates are set up. There had to be a dozen diffent screening lines and numerous shops lining the walls, all underneath a giant fabric/fibreglass canopy roof. The atrium is 900 feet by 210 feet. The fibreglass ceiling lets light in during the day time. An acquaintance of my father's tells me that when they first built it the roof actually collapsed because the heft of accumulating snowfall wasn't taken into account; there was no effort undertaken to combat the city's natural climate. From there passengers take an honest-to-goodness subway train to the three departure concourses. It spans a lot of distance and they're moving a lot of people through here. The number of passengers is remarkable, considering this is likely a lower-traffic day and time of day. The concourses even have big ol' shoe-shining stands.

I'm nearly the only person waiting at our terminal that isn't on their laptop or cell phone right now. It is crazy. What did people do to kill 45 minutes before technology? I guess write in their notebooks. I am officially an anachronism in this moment.

The number of restaurants and shops here is a little overwhelming as well, considering this is only one floor of one concourse at one airport. There are probably more stores here than in most Regina shopping malls. Good thing, considering I need to find one selling memory cards since I forgot to throw one in my camera before I left.

Should see if I can text mom and dad to let them know I'm on schedule. Maybe get some food. As has been the case for the last month and a half I'm not hungry now, but it might make the next plane ride easier.

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