Day 39 of 365

Late night ticket counter

I went to pick up Casey at Newark Airport late Sunday night, when the normally hectic airport was eerily quiet. That's not a new revelation, but I'd forgotten just how much things slow down in the late-night hours, when the only flights are those coming in -- either scheduled to arrive late, or delayed in their departures en route to New Jersey.

As I walked in from the parking garage, she called to tell me they had landed and were on their way to the gate. Yet when I checked the monitors inside to find out exactly which gate, they still listed the flight as "landing." As I wandered the airport trying to guess which of the two checkpoints she'd emerge from, I ended up on the deserted check-in level, where the long banks of kiosks stood alone, awaiting the early-morning hours when departures would resume and passengers would arrive, ready to travel once again.