Driving to PHL

Airports link places, usually places with lots of people, though their cities place them mostly in the parts of the area with least density.  My airport, PHL, gets me away to places I would prefer to be instead, at least for a short time.  Then it enables my return to where I want to remain for a much longer time.  I rarely drive there.  For ten years, I drove past it twice daily as a commuting motorist, exiting at the ramp just beyond to reach my office, not paying much attention, rarely inconvenienced by traffic that a hub like an airport would generate.  As a flying passenger, maybe twice a year, I would mostly drive that same highway, exiting one ramp earlier to park my car at a lot with a per diem fee.  At other times I would pay a driver, either a scheduled shuttle or in the internet age, an Uber.  Airports and its transportation have their market forces.  The Blue Shuttle van became too expensive, especially if two passengers travelled, lost market share, and has been no more for a long time.  There is a shuttle, an executive luxury company, also charging per passenger with limited time availability, at a fare that is not competitive with the convenience of just paying the parking lot.  The parking lots have changed as well.  In pre Website era, I would just drive up at my convenience, press a button at the gate, take my stamped ticket and find a parking space.  That just show up is no more.  Now the lot closest to mine wants a reservation with prepayment, all done through cyberspace with scanning a coded square copied to cell phone as adequate for entry and exit.

When I went to school, my father would have to schlep to EWR or LGA to retrieve me.  He was an experienced city driver, one whose daily commute exceeded mine in time and distance.  He always seemed happy to see me, never hinted of inconvenience.  And for two years, I would drive twice a year to the airport lot at STL.  Easy drive on secondary highways, little traffic, few turns, readily available lots, now totally obviated by a Metro that connects STL with convenient parts of the city.

As my own children attended school and now one lives on the other coast, I find myself as their airport transportation when hosting them.  As much as I try to accommodate their needs as my father did mine, I really do not like sitting behind the wheel to reach either the arrival or departure gate.  To be fair to the airport, they did what they could to ease the ordeal.  For departures, it's an exit off I-95, or even the exit before the designated Airport exit, follow a mostly straight road with no turns, follow the signs to departure terminals.  No major mergers.  Get in the right travel lane one letter before the letter of the desired gate and finally pull to the curb under the sign of that airline at that building.  Traffic has been mostly self-directing, though airport police will assist at peak times.  Drivers know they need to let their passengers off expeditiously, stopping only long enough to help with luggage and a final hug.  We all know somebody behind us wants that curb space and yield it quickly.  The exit back to the highway home is in the far left lane past the terminals, so I just mosey across the road from the far right to the far left, never encountering cluttered lanes to my left as I try to do this.  Then follow signs to the highway.

Picking guest up requires more savvy, though greatly aided by modern technology.  The airport designated a waiting lot, dependent on somebody in the car having a cell phone, which the passenger also needs to have.  They also need to know each other's phone number or have it in the phone's memory.  There is a plane arrival board, listed by departure city and time of arrival.  It will designate whether the plane has landed.  The driver can call the passenger, or the passenger can call the driver and tell where they are and what they are wearing for easy location.  Then just drive to the arrival terminal, look for clothing or waving arms, pull up to the curb, get in, and go.  Only one way to drive from the lot to the arrival section.  Then back to the left lane which goes directly to the highway.  Not hard to do at all.

When I travel myself, airports always appear more chaotic than they really are.  At PHL I have a shuttle from parking lot to terminal and back, always crowded with other shuttles, taxis, and now Ubers.  At other airports where I have no familiarity with layout, ground transportation has too many options, from subway, taxi, shuttles of various types with limited drop off points, to minibuses to car rental locations.  I leave those to the local pros, much as the most experienced cruise ship captain defers to the local tug pilot in a visiting port.  But at least plan which form of transit in advance.  Always have gotten where I need to go, not always without some snafus.