Wednesday, May 10, 2017
In Other Airport News ...
Posted By Babs De Lay on May 10, 2017, 4:00 AM
I love to travel, and I especially love to fly. Don't you? As long as I'm not sitting next to a screaming baby whose ears won't pop, or dragged down an aisle because I wouldn't give up my seat to a crew member, I love it. I have to laugh about the tiny ashtrays (now welded shut) in the armrests of some of the really old planes. Seriously, in the days of flying dinosaurs, we used to book seats in the smoking or non-smoking section. The second the non-smoking lights above our seats turned off, we smokers all lit up simultaneously and the entire plane would be full of smoke in minutes.
I've since kicked the habit, but I feel sad that our airport just got rid of the smoking rooms for the remaining fiends out there. You can still smoke/vape, though, at the main airports in Atlanta, Denver, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Tampa, Washington Dulles International and Nashville. Granted, the smoking lounges are often crowded, hard to find, and you might be forced to buy a drink or a cigar in order to light up, but they're there if you really need a fix.
Renting a car at an airport has become easier over the years, but getting the tank filled up just before you return it can be a challenge. Denver's airport is in the middle of fields far away from the city and its last chance for gas is almost a small city itself. You'll pay a premium for getting gas there, too. In Salt Lake City, the closest gas to the airport is on Redwood and North Temple—not far at all. And it's going to be much closer soon because part of the newly designed Salt Lake City International Airport is a gas station and convenience store in the waiting area for cars/pickup.
That's right—as of June 1, we'll have a new, larger park-and-wait lot just south of the existing lot and west of Terminal Drive. The 86-ish parking spaces there now (people park on the curbs when it's busy) will become 120 spaces. Chevron won the bid for the new station, and it will have a Beans & Brews Coffee House (yay for local!), a Burger King and a Costa Vida. Plus, there'll be an electric charging station.
There's more coming to our little Delta hub, including Trax trains that let you off inside the terminal. But that's another story down the line.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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