The Curator’s Egg

Travelling to Museums and the Web 2006 (or mw2006 as it calls itself)…

[At Chicago O'Hare]

Got up at 5am. Now in Chicago O’Hare Airport. The clock says 4pm, my body insists it’s really 10pm. It also says ‘Sleep!!!’

An observation - I really do mark myself out as a museum professional. Strolling through Terminal 2 on the way to gate C1 I spotted the skeleton of a brachiosaurus, and I immediately said (out loud) “Of course, the Field Museum.”

Cultural differences. In the USA they make you put your trainers through the X-ray scanner. Not so in the UK. OTOH, if you leave your baggage unattended it “may be confiscated by the Chicago police”. In London “it may be destroyed.” What was it about divided by a common language?

[In Albuquerque]
My flight from London to Chicago arrived 40 minutes early (strong tailwinds). This of course does you no good if you have (as I did) an further flight to catch. The Albuquerque flight left late, and when it got to Albuquerque stopped some 50 yards shy of the gate. For about half an hour. Apparently, the gate was reserved for another flight first (passenger temper was not heped by the fact that all the other gates were unoccupied at that time - but I guess this was the United Airlines gate). Great, eh? Travelled about 5,000 miles to have a hold up 50 yards from the destination? You’ve got to laugh (really, you have - it’s compulsory if you are British to laugh in these sort of situations).

Now in my hotel room, it’s nearly 6am (or 11pm on the day before as the locals imagine), so I’m off to bed. More on the morrow.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006 at 5:57 am and is filed under mw2006. Both comments and pings are currently closed.