My Favorite Airport

I’m at Melbourne International Airport (MLB)… the one in Florida, not the one in Australia! And I’ve been killing a couple of hours with a rain delay. The weather is fine here, but nasty back home in Atlanta.

This is my new favorite airport.

Take a look at the booths in the airport restaurant: Ample space to spread out, easily accessible power outlets in each booth, friendly service, no blaring televisions, and free no-hassle Wi-Fi.

I spent three hours here, ordering a hamburger and tipping the waitress an extra five dollars for occupying the table. (It wasn’t crowded, or I would have moved on.) Who needs a Crown Room?

There’s a nifty little military aviation museum… only a couple of rooms, but a nice set of exhibits, including a restored Link trainer. (One of my aunts met one of my uncles when she was instructing on these trainers during WW2.) There are models of spacecraft strewn about the terminal, from the Redstone through Apollo to the Shuttle.

Even the bathroom floors have a “space” theme, with Hubble images at the entrance and a galactic mosaic on the floors:

Then you go out to the concourse, through an efficient security checkpoint. (I am continually amazed at how friendly and helpful TSA agents wherever I travel except Atlanta. At ATL, the agents have the demeanor of prison wardens in a bad movie.) And there are more power outlets near tables everywhere, including these little self-contained carrels:

(There are power outlets on the desktop surface, but my angle was wrong, and I didn’t realize it until after boarding.)

The only bad thing I can say about Melbourne International is that Delta serves it with the dinky little CRJ jets that are comfortable only for children and hobbits. A guy my size can be crippled by sitting in one of those things for a couple of hours. But that’s not the airport’s fault!

I don’t know who is running this place, but they’re doing a darned good job. Can we put them in charge of Hartsfield, please?