I've always been dumbfounded by stranded passengers in airports. You usually hear about them during the holidays when they are trapped in airports for hours on end, sleeping on floors like refugees and complaining to television news crews about their plight - oblivious to the fact that when you travel during the winter you're likely to be screwed. So when I was stranded in Chicago for 9 hours yesterday, en route to Omaha, I tried my best to understand that there are circumstances beyond the control of the airlines and airports (though it is amazing how a few delays and cancelled flights can send ripple waves through the entire country).
My biggest mistake was not packing required power and adapters and chargers for electronic equipment, ie: laptops and cell phone. Instead I was forced to study most of the day for my last remained ARE exams, which was likely a better use of my time.
The remainder of my time was spent trying to embrace the airport / shopping mall hybrid typology, which was relatively un-impressive, consisting primarily of generic bookstores selling generic books, generic electronic / music stores selling generic music and media, and the same retail food chains found in any strip mall. The airport as a city is a stretch of the imagination.
The most annoying part of the experience was the continual buzz of bad and tacky ring tones, stranded passengers talking loudly on their cell phones about nothing, and the continual and irrational complaining of those with less travel experience - who believed American Airlines was out to individually screw each one of them, as though the airline had a vendetta against them and were feeding them lies one after the other.
Despite all of this I made it to Omaha, and am now sitting in it's urban city center - the Village Pointe Lifestyle Center on the western fringe of the city, enjoying free wifi in an empty coffee shop watching seniors and unemployed housewives putter around with nothing to do.
