Thoughts from a Swiss Airlines Business Lounge

In my recent trip to India, I was asked several times whether I wanted milk with my coffee; by the way I absolutely love the way the Indian people pronounce milk. Everyone has different taste and that's the beauty of the various world cultures. Sitting here in the business lounge in the Zurich airport for the second time in two weeks, I am witnessing a bevy of different world cultures who are off to places that only God knows. This is an international terminal and there are flights coming in from and leaving out to Paris, Germany, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madrid, etc. These are all places I would love to visit as I get out of my American bubble. I just now realized that I am the only black person in the lounge which is very insignificant given the various countries and continents represented here in this lounge. The lounge is actually divided into two sections with a circular bar with black stools on one side, trapezoid shaped brushed steel outlined looking windows with a sky light in the center framed by a bridged pedestal serving as a common table for all the travelers as they pony on up to the bar with their laptops, coffee, OJ and muffins.

There's the man from Germany with dark glasses staring at me staring at him. Could be an elderly James Bond type so I'll have to watch him; "Never Say Never". There's the mature man from India with the long steel grey hair with his foot up on the chair who is very into his Blackberry. There's the a middle age Australian gentlemen who looks like he's not too long off the Barbie and then there's the Asian lady with the long sweater coat who was drawn to the Internet cafe like a paper clip to a magnet. Could be business thing or maybe just a place of comfort from the male dominated attendance here in the business center. Then in walks the young white metro-sexual who has a nerve to be on his Bluetooth I mean cell phone as he walks right by me disturbing the flow here in the lounge. He hasn't figured out that he's the only one in here on the phone and we don't care to be a part of his conversation.

This is what happens when you have a lot of time on your hands in the airport; you tend to think too much or really pay closer attention to your surroundings. I am going to go with this type of journaling as it will help me better remember the experience of sitting here in the airport. I am sitting in this beautiful and comfortable chocolate brown leather chair with the sun coming up just over the air traffic controllers tower hitting me on the left side of my face while I wonder if any other passengers are doing the same type of journaling and have made it to me; it would go something like this. There's this tall and somewhat young black male sitting near the windows feverishly typing on his blackberry. He looks up occasionally to see if anything has changed in the room in the last several minutes. The natural light coming in from the window is creating some excellent rim lighting on his face as if to show the seriousness of which he is undertaking on his Blackberry. Now he's gone and grabbed his camera; what the hell is he going to do with that monster of a thing?

Each of us has a way of capturing the memories in our lives. I use to go strictly from memory which would include key things and people from a particular adventure and/or sometimes the smells I can associate with a particular place. I have decided to move more to capturing memories through photography to help me associate pictures with places and memories.

If you look at the first scene you will see the imprint of my butt in the leather chair, I sat there for two hours relaxing and typing this Blog entry. You will also see my passport and document holder, Blackberry, lens case and the Swiss Universe magazine I am reading with the Lovely Sophia Loren on the cover. Very good article about some key parts of her personal and professional life; very nice family photo of her and her kids. Anyway, I am enjoying my experience here in the Zurich airport as I wait for my flight and also for my IPOD to charge; by the way, that guy is still on the phone and it's driving me crazy.

The activity here in the bar is picking up and the sunshine on my face is feeling pretty good right now. I need to get up and try some of this Swiss espresso to see if its' as strong as people have commented on; by the way, the coffee in India was wonderful and some of the best I've ever had. Back to the lounge; did I mention that one of the snacks in the lounge is gummy bears; for those who really know me these things and anything type of gummy candy is my favorite. I have tried to limit myself to two small helping but I think some of these little guys will find their way on to the plane with me.

Wow, this coffee is good and strong; I'll be bouncing all over this 10 hour flight back home and I have my tunes to help me stay grounded; I am going to get another cup of this stuff. The hostesses are so efficient in the lounge that my empty sugar packets, spoon and cup are already history. Not a problem as there is a freshly washed, steamed and warm cup awaiting along with more of that wonderful Swiss espresso.

We are at the gate and it just dawned on me that most of the airport or maybe our terminal is red and white like the Swiss army colors. Here's a shot I took of one of the airplanes and country side just across from our gate. This was taken through the terminal window and I hope to edit out the streaks of pigeon poop :). There's an even better shot of all the tales of the Swiss airlines planes but I don't want to push my luck with taking photo's in the airport; especially in another country which I'm sure has surveillance cameras all over the place.













In case you were wondering, I typed all of this on that blackberry you see on the table while waiting for my next flight.