@MagentaSuede on Twitter!

Phew!!  It's tough keeping up with a blog along with all of the other things I have going on.  But I promise to be better from now on.  I just set up a twitter account for Magenta Suede Travel (@MagentaSuede) so now I have no excuses!  Here on the blog, I'll be more detailed oriented and focus on the airports (as promised), as well as topics that need more lengthy discussion/explanation.  On my twitter feed, I'll keep you updated about fun, eclectic places to eat, shop, and explore that I come across in the locations I visit, plus quick tips to make traveling easier and more enjoyable.  (Please note, the twitter feed is not in real time as far as my location, so that people can't ACTUALLY follow me.)  Bear with me, because I'm new to twitter, so I'm on a learning curve (what is a "hash tag" anyway??).  :)

If you travel to one of the places I've been, please let me know if you have any questions, need suggestions, or have suggestions.  I rarely find a location that I can't find SOMETHING to like about it, because a positive attitude and an open mind are the most important things you must bring with you when you travel, but I will be honest all the same.  That's traveling the Magenta Suede way.

Enjoy!

IAD

I think it’s only appropriate that I begin this blog with a post about Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD).  I grew up flying IAD.  So I automatically like it, which may bring in some biases to this assessment.  But I think that’s ok.  IAD is comforting to me.  It elicits memories of my family, including my dad.  He liked airports, too, and especially this one, with its swooping roof on the main terminal (sidenote: Dulles and its infamous swoop was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen, to give “an expression of flight”).  My youngest brother also loves Dulles, and even had a small stint working there behind the scenes. 

The famous Dulles "swoop"

These days Dulles is still a good, reliable airport, and even though I no longer live in DC (technically anyway), I still fly out in and out of Dulles quite a bit.  It’s nostalgic.  And it’s everything an airport should be.  But if I hadn’t grown up flying Dulles would I still like it as much?  I’m trying to look at it with a more critical eye here. 

In actuality, there really isn’t anything special about Dulles.  Dulles is a nice, clean airport and I have to say that everything goes well together from a design perspective.  It’s all the same grey and silver color scheme, with the same industrial, futuristic feeling.  Everything matches – even the bathrooms and the security checkpoint.  The swoop theme continues throughout.  I’ve never had any major travel problems here and they run a good, tight ship.  They know what they are doing, in all sorts of weather.  I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a delay here, even when flying in ice, rain, sleet, or snow.  In my opinion, the food selection is not great (at least in certain terminals), and there is no Starbucks (sidenote: I am a huge supporter of buying local, but when you travel as much as I do, you do find some comfort in “chains” – they are dependable and reliable, and always have the same thing, so you always know what you are going to get.  Plus, Starbucks has good tea, and I am a tea drinker.).  The bathrooms are nice and clean, and since they are fairly new, all of the doors have hooks (that are pretty strong – important for the heavy carry-on bags generally carried by the Magenta Suede Traveler) to hold your bags and prevent germ accumulation from the bathroom floor onto their material.  There is also foamy soap in the bathrooms (a MUST for the Magenta Suede Traveler).  I noticed that at least some of the terminals have charging stations (for phones, laptops, etc. – a fad in the airport world these days is these great charging stations that you will see at gates occasionally.  The only problem is that they are always crowded because they are so obviously there, and therefore negate the need for the hunt for a secret plug somewhere behind a seat or underneath a water fountain that you can claim as your own and guard for a few hours as you sit next to it on the floor).  And I must give props to Dulles for providing many recycle bins throughout the terminal (which, to a person who has been known to carry empty plastic and glass bottles across the entire country simply due to lack of access to a proper recycle bin, is important). 

Dulles has been very reliable in getting me out in all sorts of weather.

Dulles checks all of the boxes, but there’s nothing too spectacular about it, except for my own nostalgia for the place.  Under the surface, however, and beyond foamy soap and charging stations, I’m told that Dulles is THE BEST.  According to one of my good friends who specializes in homeland security, Dulles is outfitted with the greatest terrorist-catcher technology in the world.  As you walk down the escalators towards security there are cameras and sensors immediately assigned to your face and eyeballs, noting any strange or stressed eye movements, sweating, or twitching – basically anything that would alarm security personnel of your presence.  I’m told that there are nifty tools like this all over the airport (that water fountain you just drank out of?  Yup – terrorism-catcher.  Haha, jk.).  And you’d never know it!  So Dulles gets my vote for most secure airport.  But going through security is no worse than any other airport, and it’s actually pretty efficient.  They have a lot of lanes to choose from, seem to have the appropriate amount of staff manning the checkpoint, and do a good job of giving you a lot of space to put yourself back together and get dressed again (more about tips for going through security in a future post). 

One thing I do miss about Dulles, though, that they seem to have done away with completely since the renovations in recent years, is the funny looking hydraulic buses (also called “mobile lounges”) that used to take passengers from the main terminal to the gates.  The new trams that have replaced them are similar to other airports, and therefore boring.  They are too modern and not “Dulles.”  Not good ole’ 80s Dulles anyway.  The buses were WAY cooler than the trams, and so authentically Dulles.  I wish they’d bring them back – I’ve had some good memories on those things (or had just had or was about to have very good memories, anyway…).

Dulles "Mobile Lounges."  I miss them.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to post your own feelings/observations about Dulles.  I know many of you out there grew up flying in and out of Dulles as well, and I want to hear your stories.  J

IAD in 3 oz or less:

Airport website: http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/dulles.htm

Wireless access: Yes, free (but you must set up a user name and password)

Airlines served: You name it (http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/831.htm)

Food options: Lots of them, but nothing special in my opinion (http://www.metwashairports.com/dulles/728.htm)

Recycling: Yes

Superlative: Most Secure

Overall grade: A- (mostly for the nostalgia; minus because of food selection)

PS- Not all of my posts will be this long.  I just had a lot to say about my dear old home airport. 

Welcome to Magenta Suede Travel!

I’m not really the blogging type.  I’ve never had a blog and I never thought I would ever have a blog.  But maybe that’s just because I never had anything worth blogging about.  Still, I’m not even sure who is going to read this blog.  That said…

Since July of 2009, when I took a new job with a consulting firm, I have traveled A LOT.  I wanted to go back and count how many plane rides I’ve taken, how many hotels I’ve stayed in, and how many airports I’ve walked through during the past year and a half, but that would take time that (as a busy, traveling consultant) I do not have.  So please trust me when I say that I have traveled A LOT, and continue to do so every day (I average about one plane trip a week, and usually two). 

I usually travel alone, so when I travel I observe, and, being bored at airports and in airplanes and other modes of transportation, I have found myself jotting down a lot of notes.  I have always liked airports, and they have always fascinated me.  The range of emotions expressed at airports has always made me wish I was a better photographer so that I could capture them in an artistic way.  I see the faces of hundreds of strangers every day, but the emotions they express are all familiar, and connect us all as human beings.  In the sea of strangers where I am constantly swimming, this provides a level of comfort for me in my traveling life, where I’m always saying goodbye or hello, or experiencing some range of emotions in between. 

Being inextricably connected to all of these strangers through our common, familiar emotions is only one thing that comforts me as I travel, and I have found myself looking out for additional comforting characteristics of airports, hotels, and methods of transportation.  These characteristics may seem out of the norm for someone who travels so much.  For example, I don’t obsess about more efficient ways to pack or strategies to reduce my belongings.  While that would be practical of me, being in possession of my “things” provides me with a level of familiarity and feeling of home when I’m on the road.  As such, I carry my entire self-contained travel-ready office in a magenta suede briefcase.  This briefcase is neither practical nor ergonomic (in fact, it is quite heavy), and it only ONE of my carry-on bags, but it makes me happy.  A light packer and efficient traveler I am not (however unfortunate that may be).  But I have embraced this about myself.  That’s traveling the magenta suede way.   

While I am not a blogger, and never planned to become one, I am a writer, and also a helper (I’m an oldest child and the only girl, and also a Capricorn, so “helping” is pretty much ingrained in me).  So I thought I’d start a blog with useful (but maybe not entirely practical) information about the places I have been and the observations I have made along the way.  These observations may not help you, the efficient business traveler.  But I know in my heart that there are other Magenta Suede Travelers out there, and YOU may find this information useful, or at least find a few things that will help make your journey a little bit happier as you traverse across the country, or around the world…

[Please feel free to post comments, questions, or additional suggestions you have regarding the topics I discuss.  And as a disclaimer, I am not posting my information in chronological order, mostly because I don’t want anyone tracking my every move.  So I’m hoping there’s a search feature you can use to find the information you need – I plan to organize the blog by airport, using airport codes.  Thanks for reading!  And please pass along www.magentasuedetravel.blogspot.com to your friends if you think they will enjoy it or find it helpful.]