The ultimate traveler's accessory: a new iPod

I flew to Amsterdam today (or was it yesterday?) and couldn’t help but notice the friendly Zoom Shop, a vending machine full of the hippest, coolest techie gadgets.  The compelling blue signed called out to me, and I came over to see what I could buy to ease my flight.  A ha! iPods!  iPods are sure popular, I’ll bet the marketing guys over there couldn’t wait to stock them at airports around the nation, just ready to lure in the frequent travelers.  After all, planes are a great place to enjoy some music, so, hey, how about a brand new iPod?

I can almost picture the wonderful experience I could have.  I’d probably savor every moment of it, waiting to open the packaging much like a 6-year-old boy about to open birthday gifts (please let it be an Xbox and not a sweater…c’mon Xbox… c’mon Xbox… Nintendo Gamecube??? Am I being Punk’d or what???).  I’d have to be a little patient though, and actually wait until I sat down. Who knows, maybe I’d even save it until after take off. 

But then, the iPod will be mine to have (and to hold, and to cherish until death do we part, or three months from now when Steve Jobs makes a smaller one with more storage and everyone runs off to the Gattaca set Apple store).  I can already smell that “new-iPod scent” wafting through the cabin, blending with the orangey goodness that is Wal-borne (not sure, but I think it may have actually saved my life when I flew China Airlines to Taiwan). 

I begin to salivate as I plug in the headphones, then power up the unit.  I close my eyes, and exhale slightly as I put the “I’m so cool because they are white and I am SUCH an individual” headphones on (JT to everyone: when you own a product that has roughly 90% of the market and is available in Wal-mart, to say it is no longer ‘super-trendy’ is to put it mildly).

A smile forms, and I even giggle as I set my index finger on the fancy white disc controls, and push Play.

Nothing happens, of course, because I’m on a 10-hour flight with an empty friggin iPod.