November 19, 2008

What I learned in Concourse B

I missed my connection in Atlanta, as my flight from IAH was delayed by almost 3 hours due to fog. This led me to pass the time--about 5 hours--in various crowded bars in Concourse B at ATL. The one positive aspect of being stuck at an airport when there are loads of delays, cancellations, etc. is the camaraderie that develops among the victims at the airport bar.

On my right at the "Sports Scene," was this enormous tatooed guy in a tank top who introduced himself immediately after noticing my Red Sox hat. He was from Saugus, MA and was trying to return home from Key West, where he went to watch the offshore boat races. Apparently, he went out on a catamaran with a group of people in the morning and stayed out on the water all day--drinking a ton and watching the races. He threatened to show me the pictures he took--reportedly all of the women on the boat took their clothes off at about noon--and then reminded himself to delete some of them before his girlfriend at home got ahold of his camera.

To my left was a chatty engineer from Hot Springs, Arkansas. He had one of those drawls that are so nearly unintelligible that you feel unAmerican every time you have to say, "I'm sorry, what was that?" Eventually, Saugus and Hot Springs started sharing their tales of travellers woe and I sat back on my bar stool and listened to the battle of terrible regional accents over a couple of Yeunglings.

4 comments:

L said...

Why is YuengLing spelled so strangely? Is that even how you spell it?

eyeheartorange said...

That Saugus guy sounds like a real charmer. Always a good sign when you can't let your girlfriend look at your camera. Klassy.

Um by the way, when you have a 5 hour layover in Atlanta, you call me and Brett and I come to the airport to hang with you and eat dinner at Houlihan's outside security. For future reference.

eyeheartorange said...

I think I should have put a comma after me. That way both Brett and I will be coming to dinner!

Pucho V said...

Yeah, it actually crossed my mind, but The Sports Scene was pretty hard to leave.