So, last Monday I flew 14 hours and a lot of timezones to Vancouver by economy class. Then had 3 days of really important meetings that started with email about 6.00am and finished in the bar at midnight. It was great but draining. At the end of about 80 hours of this marathon, I made a run for the airport and a late flight to Seattle for a round of high powered internal interviews for a new position.
I do n’t know about you but I have the ‘business’ travller routine down. In and out like a special forces mission. No wasted motion, speak only when spoken to by someone that can affect my trip (agent, security, immiration, vendorm etc). Don’t make eye contact or small talk with fellow travellers. Bury head in a book or poating to the Dope via smart phone.
Blew through immigration, into the short line to security then auto pilot takes over. Toss out a couple of xray trays, throw all metal in a tray, laptop into another tray, backpack itno the xray, shoes off and into another tray. Give the guy behind me the hairy eyeball so he’ll keep back and not snatch my mojo and set the metal detector off. Guy looked like an older version of Half Life Dr Morgan Freeman.
Mission accomplished. the alarm does not go off, I reverse engineer and all items are back in the right places, shoes on my feet, laptop in backpack and I’m on my way to find a quiet corner.
Later on the plane, a colleague I vaugely know said ‘did you notice Leonard Nimoy in line behind you going through security?’