Airport survival tips for the humble traveler
■Stranded at the airport?
Make the experience more
bearable by following a few
calm suggestions
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
9 ""9 * %9 9
I would like to start by saying
that I hope everyone had an excit
ing spring
break filled
with depravi
ty and de
bauchery.
Those were
pretty much
my plans, but
they started a little late thanks to
the good people at San Francisco
International Airport, where I had
Reporter’s
NOTEBOOK
the pleasure of spending an
evening.
When I started traveling on my
own, my mother gave me an elabo
rate speech on what to do when
things go wrong, which I promptly
forgot as soon as she finished talk
ing. So I had to divine my own
rules of airport survival which I
will now impart to you. You may
forget them at your leisure.
1. Don’t get mad. There was a
woman next to me at the counter
who was bitching and yelling about
how she wanted a free hotel room
and why she would never fly Unit
ed again. The manager dealing with
her tried calmly to explain how
“this wasn’t their policy.” Mean
while, my attendant finished her
work quietly and informed me I
was booked on the first flight to my
destination and handed me a free
hotel voucher for the night.
2. Examine your options. By the
time the shuttle to my hotel got to
the airport, there were more people
waiting than could fit in the vehi
cle. By the time another shuttle
would have gotten me to the hotel, I
would have been able to sleep
about four hours until needing to
return to the airport. Was it really
worth it?
3. Scout out a spot. Once I made
the decision to stay for the night, it
was too late to ask if I could stay in
one of the fancy lounges that exist
for frequent fliers. In my search for
a bench to lie on, it became appar
ent that there is an intentional lack
of airport benches without arm
rests. They do exist, but in sparse
numbers, obviously done purpose
ly to irritate me, and to further de
prive stranded travelers of sleep,
among other reasons. If you are
lucky enough to find one, great. If
not, welcome to the floor.
4. Don’t mind the noise. Airports
never stop. There are always peo
ple cleaning things with loud hum
ming machines that will rattle your
teeth. The announcements about
watching your baggage repeat con
tinuously — although watching
your bags is pretty hard if you’re
asleep — and people will invari
ably flock to where you are and cre
ate more noise.
5. Don’t sleep too much. If you
are a heavy sleeper, it is very possi
ble that you will sleep through your
flight the next morning. I set a num
ber of alarms on my Palm Pilot™ to
get me up. If you don’t have such
technological luxuries, try sleeping
near the food area and leave a note
near you instructing one of the em
ployees to wake you up.
6. Get a handout. If you go to
your respective airline counter and
inform them of your situation, they
will likely give you some sort of
coupons for free food. Breakfast is
the most important meal of the day.
These tips should help get you
through a night at any airport. Heck,
you may want to go airport camping
with your friends just for fun.
Ravers set out to stop drug overdoses in Orlando
By Mike Schneider
The Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — After two of
David Curiel’s rave-scene friends
died of drug overdoses, he realized
something needed to change.
So two years ago, the 30-year-old
industrial designer formed The Fu
ture Tribe Project. The group consists
of about 20 rave regulars who try to
educate fellow ravers about drugs
and safe sex in a nonjudgmental
manner. They spread the word when
bad drugs are circulating and pass
out condoms at raves, the all-night
parties that have a backdrop of hyp
notic, electronic dance music.
“We’re just trying to save lives,”
said Curiel, who wears a nose ring,
earrings in each ear and a stud un
der his lip. “I don’t want to see any
more of my friends die.”
They’ve also tried to counter the
socially irresponsible image of
ravers by volunteering at a nursing
home, an Adopt-a-Highway pro
gram, and helping build homes for
Habitat for Humanity. One Future
Tribe flier says getting high is not
what raves are about.
“It’s about DANCING, the music,
having a good time, opening your
mind, connecting with others,” the
flier reads. “We are not the slacker
losers they want you to believe we
are. We are creative, dynamic, young,
peaceful, evolving, beautiful people.”
The public relations campaign
can’t come soon enough. Orlando’s
rave scene has become public ene
my No. 1 for the community’s
politicians, law enforcement offi
cers and religious leaders.
“Ladies and gentlemen, our chil
dren are being poisoned,” Orange
County Sheriff Kevin Beary said in
mm
February during a hearing on the
rave scene.
The most recent attack on the rave
scene comes from the Orange Coun
ty Commission. It is expected to vote
in several weeks on an ordinance
that would tightly regulate after-hour
venues that don’t serve alcohol but
attract segments of the rave scene.
The so-called rave clubs would have
to be licensed every year, subject to
inspection at any time, and required
to have off-duty police officers and
paramedics on the premises.
“The idea is to create consisten
cy between clubs that would cater
to underage folks and those that
would cater to adults,” said Orange
County chairman Richard Crotty.
“Clubs for adults are licensed.”
The Orange County ordinance
comes almost four years after the Or
lando City Council forced bars and
nightclubs to close at 3 a.m. in an effort
to stop raves at after-hour bars. The
city’s ordinance effectively moved the
rave scene underground into ware
houses, parks and private homes, al
though a few clubs outside the city be
gan playing rave-style dance music.
One of those places was Cyber
zone, outside the city in Orange
County. Last September, Cyberzone
patron David Stieb purchased what
he thought was Ecstasy from anoth
er patron and died of an overdose.
In a wrongful death lawsuit, his
parents accuse Cyberzone employ
ees of throwing Stieb out of the club
while he was overdosing and not
seeking medical help for him.
Drug deaths are a prime concern
for The Future Tribe Project. It is af
filiated with DanceSafe, an Oakland,
Calif.-based group that began testing
drugs in clubs several years ago to
stop deaths related to the consump
tion of fake or impure drugs. Dance
Safe now tests drugs by mail and
posts the results on its Web site.
Members of the Future Tribe Pro
ject frown on places like Cyberzone.
Still, they say no more drug use goes
on at raves than anywhere else.
“I really, really doubt that you
would have an easier time finding
drugs at a rave than you would at
your standard Pink Floyd concert
or Doobie Brothers’ concert,” said
Brad Lyons, a 20-year-old Universi
ty of Central Florida student and
member of the Future Tribe Project.
Legislating the problem away
won’t work either, Future Tribe
members said.
“Everything they’ve done to shut
us down has done nothing to stop
the drug deaths,” said Greg Shultea,
22, a light and sound technician.
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