CrunchGear

On Friday March 16th I spent the night at DFW, in the terminal. I had a missed a connector to SNA. It was 11ish and the returns were starting at 6am (back at airport by 5am), so instead of taking the van ride to the Motel 6 in Irving and then back in 5+ hours, I decided to gut it out and sleep there (I didn’t find out until later that there’s a Marriott attached to the airport).

Being that there was no one around, I explored for a place to hang but all the bars were closing. I did buy some headphones at the Sony vending machine, watched some Slingbox, text messaged a bunch of people, sat around. I got tired and ventured into an eatery, piled up a bunch of booth cushions and made a little sleeping area. I can’t recommend another overnight there simply because there is no place in the entire terminal that gets dark enough to sleep. Too many fluorescent lights. Also, the TVs stay on all night and there’s no way to turn the volume down on all of them.

It was pretty crappy staying overnight, but it’s a decent enough terminal if you’re just there for a little bit.

Just a thought: maybe you could have used the headphones as makeshift ear-plugs? Or at least for some amount of noise reduction. I think it would be cool to spend one night in an airport at least once in my life.

DFW has one of the best terminals I have ever been to. I planned my departing and returning flights (to and from Las Vegas for MIX tomorrow) to cross through DFW because I actually look forward to the terminal experience.

Plus, AmerAir paid off one night’s stay at a nearby set of suites (forgot the name) because of overcrowding on one of their flights last year. All of my visits to that airport were nothing short of great.

I don’t know what the experience is like when one is actually trying to check in via the airport though. All I know is that at least some of the terminals are amazing.

Samsung does not sponsor the DFW airport. The reason for the large presence of Samsung is that Samsung’s Mobile headquarters are located in Richardson and Plano, two suburban cities of Dallas. I work on the FAQ/Support section of Samsung Wireless’ website (http://samsungwireless.com).

I notice a distinct lack of answer to the question of “Why would Samsung release the worst phone known to man, the Wafer?” Might want to get on that.

Cool beans. I’ll have to make sure to explore if I ever go there. Me and my fellow 9 readers appreciate the pics too ; )

lol…I live in the “D” i dint know bout the proactive vending machine.

That’s really quite neat, I love investigating airports - they generally vary so much from each other. Toyko’s International airport is rather plain, compared to one in Osaka which although peils in look- but makes up for it with some really weird things including digital camera vending machines (real expensive ones not those cheap disposable) and some really weird phallic sculptures.

I used to fly through DFW all the time. Great airport! I got so used to it that now when I’m in other airports, I’m a little sad.

You missed the *anything* vending machine. There’s a single vending machine that vends EVERYTHING which shocked me when I first saw it in DFW. It has a cold side and ambient side and anything you can think of from food to entertainment is on one side or the other.

I also REALLY dig the samsung ‘lounge’ by gate A25. I don’t know if it’s preplanned to be there - but it’s REALLY close to the gates always flying to o’hare. You need to sign up for the dang $10 tmobile wireless fee - but the lounge is EXTREMELY comfortable at least while sitting.. delayed for 5 hours trying to get to chicago.

Yes, the “everything” vending machine was amazing! I remember that it had candy bars, mouthwash and a few board games. I really really wanted to watch it vend something, but I couldn’t bring myself to spend the money.

The rent-a-laptop vending machine says ‘internet connection and printing is included free’ in the upper left corner.

Wow, all this great technology in the world, and yet this traveler didn’t think to bring a real camera with them, and taking these pictures with a sub-par phone camera.

I spent a whole night there and I can’t seem to find any pictures… I guess I was in too much awe

I was stuck looking at that glass structure for about an hour the day I was on standby + 4 more elsewhere in the airport. Let’s just say my experience at DFW wasn’t as good yours. :P

I’ll take Amseterdam’s airport any time. I had an 11 hour layover then when I missed a connection to Nairobi. They have an art museum, masseuse, and all sorts of nice things to occupy your time. They even arranged a bomb scare while I was there for some kid of entertainment. Watching the police dog was so fascinating, that when they were sniffing the suspected briefcase, it was only at the last minute I asked myself, “Am I standing too close if this thing goes off?”

It didn’t.

This are the worst pictures i ever seen in my life!
I think you MUST find a “Photograph Curse” vending machine….

hehehe.
I was just joking….

I wish airports would put some money in free wireless instead of all that crap.

That’s the international terminal at DFW.. Aka Terminal D. It is far much cooler than the other terminals at DFW with great mini versions of various hip restaurants…

You were staying at terminal where all the international flights come in. that terminal is better then the rest, the other terminals are all average.

if only you could have found a camara tripod vending machine
then you could have taken steady pics

jesus, people act like they have never been to a large airport before. Us city folk sure have some interestin’ doo-hickies in our buildin’s

I thought he was acting like he saw something interesting, not like he was new to traveling. And as someone that has been to many ‘large airports’ thinks Terminal D at DFW is a pretty nice one.

LMAO OMG this comment made seriously LOL..

i was at the airport last week on my way to Japan and saw all those things. you forgot to mentions the hotels and car parks in between the terminal and the cool train system. nice post.

I’ve spent the night there, I wasn’t very impressed. The artsy stuff was kinda cool, but it was hard finding a outlet for my laptop. I guess they were trying to push the charging stations next to the rent a laptop station. I thought it was too cold to sleep in there. Is it normal for a flight to leave the gate 10 mins before the departure time on the boarding pass? That’s why I was stuck there.

Planes depart (”pushback”) at a certain time. They close the door ten minutes prior to assure high on-time departure stats.

I guess I learned my lesson, even though the flight that I did catch left the gate at the departure time.

Well, if it was a connecting flight that arrived late then I understand, but they DO tell you to be an hour early to your flight for a reason.

To bad they didn’t sell Digital Cameras so Doug could take better Pictures.

Yeah, I like making snarky jokes about using camera phones in lieu of a digital camera too.

Man, I love technology. Especially now, in 2008, when camera phone pictures can fully tell a tale. Thanks for sharing.

Do you receive money for your blogging? This seems like a sponsored blog.

Yes. We receive money from vending machine companies, airports, and street art makers. We are dirty, dirty whores.

Haha!! this was great, and amusing. I like your witty writing.

thats funny, im in the dfw airport while i type this. too bad i didnt have all the time you did to check those things out. and it sucks theres no free wifi either.

They have iPod vending machines in the Indy airport.