Where I Will Be On Monday.

Time to use Google Earth! Here is where I have to be on Monday at the ungodly hour of 8 AM.

The little red circle is the phantom building where I have to meet the nice lady from HR, and the payroll people. The large red circle is the terminal area. You can also see the runways and taxi-ways. The large curvy line on the bottom is the 836 expressway. The dark areas by the large curvy line are man made lakes. I have to go to the phantom building first.

In this photo, the parking garage for County empoyees (me) and law enforcement is circled. The arrow is pointing to the fuel farm. The concourses are labeled A - H. The large buildings and other stuff in the middle of the concourses are public parking garages, covered moving walkways, and stuff.

As you can see, Miami Airport is quite well designed. The shape of the terminal is a horseshoe. People can quickly get from concoruse A to concourse H - without needing to use a train or bus. On the third level there is a moving walkway. This walkway is the secret to getting around quickly. Additionally, concourse A - E are connected by another walkway behind the checkpoint (so people can move among those concoruses without having to go through security, as the only way to get there is to either pass through security OR arrive in an airplane - in which case you already made it through security. All international arrivals have to go through US Customs).

Level 1 is for departures (leaving the airport to the city, baggage claim). Level 2 is for arrivals (people leaving the city, and the security checkpoints and airline ticket counters).

So if you are going to come to Miami, do not be afraid to fly into or out of Miami International Airport. The layout of the place is very logical, and it is very easy to move around in the place. You can go from one end of the airport to the other end in less than 10 minutes. Because the busy concourses are connected behind the checkpoint, if you have to fly out of D and the line is too long, you can go to E. MIA has a MUCH better layout than Fort Lauderdale.

This is where I will be on Monday. And Tuesday. And many days after that.