I've got an hour to burn at the Airport. Thank god there have reliable free wi-fi... it's not that I want to surf the net, but knowing that they actually cared to provide the service makes me feel good about paying the airport tax.

I ran into a college friend in the departure hall. He was heading out to Singapore for a convention. How things have changed.

We used to walk 30 mins to class every day... neither of us had a car at that time. There were times that it would start raining cats and dogs while we were on the way to class. Showed up for class totally drenched... funny thing was it didn't matter! It was part of being a student. Didn't have much money... trying to party while getting an education.

Now here we are, flying off on business... Somewhere in the middle of the corporate ladder... well, me at least... my friend decided to screw the whole rat race thing and opened up his own construction firm... he's not rich, but at least he is his own boss...

This time around, I see a whole different crowd at the airport. You see, in an effort to keep costs down during these uncertain times, I'm taking a budget airline. Hell, the company director does the same thing, so who am I to demand more. Since it's a budget airline, I'm now at the low-cost carrier terminal.

Now back to the crowd. You see a lot more 'down to earth' people. People who have never been on a plane before... it's more affordable now for people to travel. You see people who have no idea what to do. They are there wondering should they go through the automatic immigration gate or the manual gate, if they should empty out their whole bag into the little box at the x-ray machine, should they walk through the metal detectors alone or together with three other friends.

I've been getting on planes since I was six months old... so it's no big deal to me.. but to them it's a whole new exciting experience.

I just smile and let them take their time. If they look lost, I try to help... I feel that they should be able to enjoy this experience. But not everybody is like me...

I do see some 'seasoned' travelers who do get annoyed... they start making the usual faces... they stomp off to a different counter... kinda makes you wonder what they are going through in life that makes them so high-strung...

They should sell weed at the airport... relieve people's stress...