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Gina, good for you, you finally MADE it, even though the odds were against you. I have disliked flying since the first time I stepped on a plane and sat for three hours while they decided it was not safe to fly and told us they were switching us to another plane! I am always glad to be back on the ground. Airports, at their best are horrible heartless places filled with uncaring people selling goods at highly inflated prices. There are exceptions, maybe one in a million! The pilots are overworked, the air controllers are treated like research mice, deprived of sleep and made to work too much overtime. The cabdrivers are mostly rejects from reform schools, or desendents of Ali BAba and his 40 thieves. The parking was designed by morons who think that walking in the rain or freezing wind, or broiling sun through an unending maze, up steep ramps, leading to dreary filthy elevators, is great sport! The security checkpoints are designed to purposely cause unstable people to lose their composure, by humiliating, browbeating and inconveniencing them, and delaying them to the maximum for having the audacity to carry some clothing in a piece of luggage. And NOW their favorite toy is a small window you must try to stuff your items through, which is at least two inches smaller than most luggage made today. They delight in sending you back to the counter to force you to send what you wanted to carry with you, to the team of demented gorillas who fling each item into concrete walls to see if they can pop the locks open and make your personal items spew onto the tarmac before it even gets near the plane. Oh, yes the tiny trays they make you empty your metallic items into, before they subject your body to enough xrays to weld your beltbuckle to your zipper, is designed to let some items fall on the floor, so they can watch you try to retrieve them as other travelers walk on your hands. They are trained to laugh at you in many foreign languages, except whatever you happen to speak. It is not all bad, you CAN get a burnt hamburger with hot grease dripping out of the bun, often for under $20, if you skip the beverage. For a few dollars more you can get grease soaked french fries with extra salt, if the equipment is not out of order. After dinner time, say 4PM, you may not be so lucky, as many of the fine eating establishments close. Then you may only get a nice warm beer, in a paper cup, for what a 6pack would cost at home. Airports are usually clean, if you use the restrooms that are not out of order, at the other end of the airport, they are ALWAYS slopping a mixture of disinfectant and VERY slippery soap on the tile floors. If you don't appear to lose your footing, they often try to trip you with a mop handle, just for fun! I do know that all the managers in airports,and especially the ones that work for the major airlines are well trained. They ALL have the same little phrase books to study. Like a talking doll, they can say: 1: I'm sorry, I cannot help you with that." 2: I'm SO sorry, that's not MY job." 3: MR/MS _______ is in charge of THAT, and HE/SHE, is on a break,or at lunch, please wait here, until one minute before you flight departs...... Am I making this up? No way, I am NOT Dave Barry, and I am NOT making this UP! Gina's experiences were TYPICAL! To answer anyone's question before they ask: YES, I would rather DRIVE, or take a BUS, or a TRAIN, or a SHIP, than fly! Ken B