Express Lane

I tend to do a lot of traveling and enjoy observing the people and situations during every trip.

This journey to Las Vegas, or Lost Wages as my step-father would refer to it, was overflowing with interesting things to watch and wonder about.

One of the things that really sunk in this trip was the use of express self-service lines.

Many airlines have been doing this for years now. If you have not flown in a while I'll tell you how things now work so you won't feel completely confused.

Basically, you don't normally stand in long snaking lines anymore. Now, you find a kiosk at your chosen airlines counter and swipe your credit card to verify who you are. Some airports even have kiosks where you can check in to any airline from the same kiosk.

Following the on-screen instructions you get your ticket printed out and then just hand your bags to the agent behind the counter.

I do miss watching the counter agents typie for 20 minutes to get me a seat assignment, but I think it's a procedure I can live without.

At the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas they thankfully have installed the same basic kiosk type of system. Having to wait in tedious lines after traveling all day is really frustrating so this was a welcome addition to find at the hotel.

Checking into the hotel was another quick card swipe and I was off to my room in a few minutes. Checking out was equally as sIimple.

On the airport shuttle some ladies summed up my feelings about gambling. As we were driving away from the hotel they said, "Bye, bye Excalibur, we hope you enjoy all of our money."

Back to the airport for my return trip brought more fun to this adventure in the form of a huge line to go through security. Geez they move a lot of people through the Las Vegas airport.

A nice addition to the line waiting scenario was the addition of television monitors. Now I realize this in itself is nothing new and that many airports have monitors and videos showing the best way to go through the checkpoint, but Las Vegas added entertainment to the video.

The Knights from Excalibur were shown removing their swords and even squirt guns. The Blue Man Group were demonstrating the need for having your boarding pass. A Starfleet person was even abusing a Klingon because he was listening to his Walkman.

Some clowns even got into the act with a demonstration of shoe removal and taking a child out of its stroller so they could be carried through the metal detector.

The funniest of these scenes was watching Carrot Top with what appeared to be a backpack the size of half a door and he was carrying a tiny little purse looking piece of luggage. The whole area chuckled at once.

My flight is delayed for an hour so here I sit in the airport letting you all share in my thoughts. Aren't you lucky?

After sitting in the airport for several hours I can honestly say that I'll be happy if I never have to hear another slot machine yell, "Wheel Of Fortune!"