HOW'S YOUR ASPEN?

Sorry been a bit ... wife and I went away for a week to one of the most beautiful places on the planet - Aspen, Colorado.

We had a conference there and stayed at the St. Regis Hotel. Not a shabby joint to stay at, by the way.

The city is pretty and clean as can be. People are nice and friendly and you can walk most places. The bus system is free to ride - how cool is that?

I know this will come as a shock to most, but I went hiking. Went to a beautiful place called Maroon Bells. It's not a bad walk if you aren't at 9,000 feet.

Only problem I found with Aspen is that you have to take a little plane there and connect either in Salt Lake City or in Denver. We chose Denver and United Airlines. Figured it couldn't be any worse than Delta. Well, in a matter of minutes in Denver's airport we found out that they are worse.

No one would help us when we got to Denver. Finally we got settled and were waiting for our flight when at the counter next to us a wild scene was happening. The flight was going to Rapid City or some small town when the woman at the counter grabbed the microphone and started screaming at the customers, "Back off! There's only one of me and 20 of you!! So just step back and we will deal with this as we can!"

I have seen a lot of things on Delta - have never seen that move. Just wild stuff.

Then on the way back to Denver from Aspen we are about to get to the gate when the captain stops the plane about 100 yards from the gate. We sat there for 30 minutes because we have to wait for someone to tow us in. Planes are moving all around us and we are just sitting there. People are missing connections and getting upset. What a mess.

Years ago I was stuck in Denver while still a student and I wrote a column for the Northeastern News talking about airline travel. I was also on United and found out what it stood for - U Never Intended To Ever Depart. Also came up with others - TWA - Try Walking Asshole. Delta - Don't Ever Leave the Airport ... etc.

All these year's later - nothing has changed. Airline travel stinks and so do all the carriers. Just a joke. Now we can't bring liquids on the plane - and it's no big deal to me, but at some point we are all going to have to just fly naked. This way they can do an easy search as we go through security.

But even then, someone will find a way to get around that too..... scary to think of.