Yesterday I drove to Charlotte, NC (decent 2.5 hour drive from our home, mostly all interstate) to meet my wife who was returning from a 2-week visit in Arizona with a relative, and I had the pleasure (or not so) of hanging around one of America's busiest airports...at least as far as parked cars are concerned.
Charlotte Douglas Airport has one of the largest parking garages around and while I found a space to park close to the terminal, it took me a couple of drive arounds before I sorted out the layout maze. Last time we flew from there, we parked our car in the long term lot, (back forty I should say) and that was like a short safari to get from the car to the terminal, via bus.
Meeting an arriving passenger these days at an airport takes place in an area typically next to the baggage claim, because the "secure" section is so large there is not room for much else. So, unlike years ago when one could stand near the area where passengers were unloading and spot the arriving person one was meeting, then walk with them to baggage claim, today you essentially have to wait in baggage claim. With cell phones, that's not a problem because you can track each other, but still it seems like a rather unpleasant way to greet those arriving. And then there's the cost of "things" at an airport these days.
Parking itself is fair and reasonably cheap, and that's good. However, if you want a bottle of water, five bucks please. Small packet of breath mints so you smell nice to the person you are greeting, two fifteen please. $2.15 for a pack of mints that used to coast a quarter! Outrageous, but they got you captured "inside" and will squeeze every penny out of your pocket. Starbucks coffee, well, at least that was about the same as I'd pay elsewhere, which is always too much. Anyway, you get my point.
It was an uneventful trip for us, other than trying to back out of my small space in the parking garage with the back hatch of the Honda CRV open (thank you nice person who yelled at me.) My excuse? It's my wife's car...I'm not used to how things are supposed to look through the rear view mirror. Had it been my Toyota 4Runner, I'd have spotted that oversight in a second.
