Adventure begins!

Sitting at Rochester International Airport waiting for the flight to Detroit, then a 3-hr layover before the 15-hr flight to Incheon.

Interstitial and transient spaces have always fascinated me—airports, train stations, bus terminals. A place between places. Neither here nor there (hence duty free). A place to pause, reflect, wait with purpose.

Seems an appropriate meditation on route to a pilgrimage.

Also, here’s a reminder that being in public spaces can be annoying as well as exhilarating. Like hearing the guy on his laptop sniffing and snorting his post nasal drip. Please God don’t make me sit next to that guy on the plane, right? But maybe I will have to. In which case I will offer it up… and then offer him a tissue.

I am also entertained by the camaraderie and subculture of the people who work in the airport—ground crew, service workers, etc. Getting my Dunks coffee I witnessed a lot of fun joking around and affectionate teasing between the people working behind the counter. It’s the same kind of thing for people who once worked at malls across the US back in the heyday of the mall.

That subculture is the context for a script I’m working on: Time travel from the year 2087 to a 1973 mall.

Well, the sniffling guy seems to have calmed down. Half an hour before boarding. I have moved to another part of the terminal to see the sky and the sun. Leaving beautiful weather in Rochester, New York and heading into heat and humidity in South Korea. Again, sounds like the perfect start to a pilgrimage.