Looking-Down, Sitting-Up Travel Selfies

By Richard Leung

By Gary Rea

I admit to being hunched over, when I work my Samsung Galaxy Note II.  But I avoid that when I am walking about.  I want to make sure I am as mindful of my surroundings as possible, so I often use my walks, and I do walk a lot, as a form of reflection and relaxation.  The first two selfies are on the Metra train in Chicago, and the second two are on that short Frankfurt walk and on my return to the airport.  So while I may look down, I am sitting up.

Sparse and Monochrome near Frankfurt Airport

Monday afternoon, March 17th 2014, and Frankfurt, near its airport, is curiously sparse of people on a business day.  I also found it curious that much of its surface mirror the dull day.  Thank goodness for the Deutsche Post DHL and its bold yellow and red and its touch of green.

Bicycle Racks Designed as Bicycles

I was curious about these bicycle racks, designed as bicycles in and of themselves.  There is no mistaking what they are for.  But by their very cleverness, I suppose we can think creatively about them, too.  Perhaps as a homage to the fundamentals of physics and geometry and to the ingenuity of humankind.  Perhaps as a make-believe ride for a boy or girl, instead of a horse or a car.  I loved how the parallel lines converged where but somewhere in infinity.

Forces that Create the Balance

A half mile from Frankfurt airport was this art installation.  A curious stacking of what, it doesn't matter.  I noticed first the uneven stacking of these cans, or tapes, or spools.  Then I noticed the colors, against the gray, more as it climbs up.  I'd expect that unevenness to make the installation topple, but I trusted at the same time that it wouldn't.  There are structural forces, no doubt creative as well, that secure it, and create the balance that an obsessive-compulsive would otherwise have difficulty creating.

The Ordinariness Of It All

It was Monday, March 17th 2014, and I was in Frankfurt, en route to Kuwait.  I had time on my hands, and feet, and I needed exercise and air.  It was a dreary day, the kind where we are inclined to while away.  Within a mile or two from the airport, there was little that was extraordinary.  But never having been in Frankfurt, except two or three times only at the airport, I thought I'd get a sampling of the city.  Ordinary was fine, and being outside the airport, according to a personal rule, meant I had actually visited the city.  The overcast day had just the right amount of cool to ease the warmth inside and at the same time the right amount of warmth to make it feel like I had escaped the brutal Chicago winter.  I stepped outside, and followed the direction of light traffic, walked on a down ramp, and soaked in, almost as a meditation, the ordinariness of it all.

A Frankfurt Airport Synchronicity

(image credit)

Before my connecting flight to Kuwait, I had a four-hour layover in Frankfurt.  I asked the friendly lady guard at Passport Control, whether I had time to explore the city.  She said, yes, as long as I was back at the airport one hour before flight time.

I walked around, in no rush, and mostly soaked in the scene of the airport.  I love airports, when I don't have to rush to get somewhere.  There is a flow and a rhythm to people, all linked in one way or another to travel.  I love being part of it, and also stepping back from it and observing it all openly.  I can visualize the algorithm, in the way that Neo could see the green streaming of computer code that makes up `The Matrix.

I approached an area of long reclined chairs, meant for napping.  I didn't want to nap, but I wanted to take stock of my belongings and review my plans and timing.  I made a habit of regularly tapping my pockets and scanning my bags to make sure I had everything with me.

A moment of synchronicity

I tapped my right back pants pocket for my wallet, and it's there.  Then in an instant after that, I saw a brown wallet on the floor at my feet.  I was standing at the foot of one of those reclined chairs, and was about to sit down.  For another split second, I was curious as to how my wallet landed on the floor, after I just ensured it was in my pocket.

It wasn't my wallet, of course.  

I picked up the bulging thing, and quickly looked for a security guard to give it to. I must've done a 360° twice, before deciding to go back to the security check-in I had walked past a few moments before.  I approached a guard, and he didn't seem to want the wallet.  He just pointed me to Information Desk, near where I was among napping travelers.

It took a few moments to go back there, and find the Information Desk.  But once there I had to wait for a traveler, who seemed lost and had engaged the staff in more than a brief set of directions.  I circled to another, and again I had to wait for another traveler to finish.

I gave the increasingly hot wallet to that second staff.  She reacted with a bit of an oh, and opened it and we both saw that there was a lot of cash in it.  She wanted information about me, and I was reluctant.  I just found it, and I didn't touch anything in it, I retorted.  I gathered she wanted to make sure I didn't actually take anything from it.  After that guard refused to take it, I was afraid someone would accuse me to stealing it.

Thankfully all she asked for was my name.

Someone tries to do good, and it becomes a veritable little drama, doesn't it.

I am three-for-three on gripping films

I love movies. I relish getting absorbed in them. It's one of the way I get leisure and entertainment, and I look forward to it on long haul flights.

It's a 7 PM flight out of Chicago and a 9 AM arrival (local) time in Frankfurt.  So it's a perfectly timed opportunity to unwind, rest and sleepy-sleepy.  

Except that I see a handful of films on the United airline menu, which were on the Best Picture nominations list.  I watch the first, and it's gripping.  I sidle to the second, and that, too, is intense.  I'm batting two-for-two with my picks, and that's a very unusual hit rate for me.  But as is the case when I'm absorbed, I lose track of time and my need to sleep.  So off I am in search of a third, and my hit rate remains perfect.

I blogged about each of these films:

• Kudos to Sandra Bullock for a Gripping `Gravity
• Tom Hanks Pulls Off a Heroic `Captain Phillips
• Hugh Jackman Explores Ethics in `Prisoners