Tobold's Blog
Friday, November 17, 2006
 
Columbus airport

I'm back at my favorite airport again, Columbus, Ohio. Not very big, but modern, clean, and always equipped with the latest technology. I especially like the free wireless access here, of course.

The latest novelty is an e-play kiosk. That is a machine with basically a big hard drive and a DVD writer. The machine is operated via a touch screen, from which you can search or browse for hundreds of movies stored on the hard drive. If you find one you like, you can pay between $10 and $20, depending on how new the film is, and get it burned on a DVD.

The choice wasn't all that great yet, and I didn't find anything I liked. But this is definitely a glimpse of the future. The limitation up to now seems to be the hard drive, which limits the number of DVDs on offer. Now imagine hyper-fast broadband connections, a huge central server with every DVD in existance stored on it, and customers being able to download and burn any DVD they want. Another long tail opportunity.

Well, another 2 hours before my plane goes. And then I have to switch planes to get home to Europe, arriving tomorrow morning. I think before I'll visit another of my favorite features of the Columbus airport: A & W All American Food, a burger shop "with a retro feel", as they say. Good burgers, and draft root beer. Can't get that back home in Europe.
Comments:
My favourite airport is Reykjavik: it's largely new, though a bit leaky in the more extreme Icelandic weather in the older walkways.

But the great thing is that if your stopover is of the 2 & 1/2 hours and upwards type of length then they'll bus you to nearby volcanic pools where you can lounge outside in gorgeously-warm water. I love it, and it's the most relaxing stopover in the world!
 
I laughed when I saw your long tail link. The whole long tail idea is a personal pet peeve of mine. In my opinion it is some guy trying to push a meme on the internet to drive up his book sales and speaking fees. I could go on a rant, but I don't think anyone really cares for my rants.
I'm not really the frequent traveler type, but I can certainly say that Chicago O'Hare is my least favorite airport. The number of times I have gotten hopelessly lost in that morass is more than I care to count.
 
LAX - least favourite aiport
Hong Kong - favourite (crazy huge, brand new, awesome view)

Now I have yet to fly through Reykjavik (sounds sweet :), but actually, the airport in Vancouver (my hometown) is pretty nicely equipped as well. Most visitors I have that come through it seem to enjoy it.
 
OMG!!!
Your home airport is CMH!!?? That is where I fly in to see my grandparents in Galion, OH. We always eat at the Wendy's in the food court before my return flight and eat at the Bob Evans by the airport when I fly in.

I feel like your relative now.

Next time you get a chance to come to TPA, shoot me an e-mail and I might be able to take off for an hour or two to sit and chat in the concourse with you. TPA is voted top or top 10 in the U.S. pretty often.
 
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