Academic

Summer Conference Season - Guilty Pleasures

By Jacqueline Lipton

As the summer conference season begins, and I sit in a hotel room in Chicago, I wanted to confess to some of the guilty pleasures that go hand in hand with being away from the family and the household chores and being able to immerse oneself in the scholarly endeavor divorced from the distractions of home.  Scholarly endeavor notwithstanding, there's a couple of other guilty pleasures in which I indulge while on the road.

First, I have to say that sitting in a hotel room in another city is the only time I read that paragon of popular news culture, the USA Today.  I have to give a shout out to the editors of this morning's edition with the cover story showing a picture of President Obama greeting Governor Schwarzenegger at the White House juxtaposed against a photo in the top right hand corner of Christian Bale in the  new Terminator movie.  The placement of the pictures says so much - the Terminator franchise (which is another guilty pleasure of mine) still goes on, despite Arnold's permanent move to politics.  I love it!

I also have a question related to another guilty pleasure - the airport lounge (which I've just discovered in my old age).  How come you can take food out of the lounge, but not bring food in?  Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Anyone else have any favorite traveling-related perks they want to admit to?

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on May 20, 2009 (boomark / email).