For the 2017 eclipse, I round-tripped from Dallas to Nashville in the same day, through Houston, with my entry level dslr, 300mm lens, $20 amazon basics tripod, and a solar filter in my backpack. It was cheaper than spending a night in a hotel, although hotels were definitely still available a couple of weeks before. I was supposed to get to Nashville early enough in the morning that it had occurred to me that I might get bored waiting for the eclipse for hours in the airport ("should I bring my work laptop?"). but the Houston-Nashville leg of the flight was delayed long enough that they eventually let us off the plane to get food if we wanted. because of "eclipse traffic going into in Nashville". Which was news to the pilot and most of the passengers. But also seemed to odd - did airlines have extra flights that day? and if so, wouldn't pilots know about it? I chose a cramped middle seat (Southwest) in the second row, to the noticeable irritation of the strangers in the window and aisle seats, so I that could get off the plane as quickly as possible when we landed. There was one gentleman on the flight carrying an enormous 800mm camera lens. He wanted to hold it in his lap, but long after a ton of other people had already boarded and taken up all of the nearby overhead compartment space, the flight crew noticed it wouldn't exactly fit under the seat in front of him, and made him stow it in an overhead compartment. in the back. Which meant he'd have to wait for it. I felt bad for him. When we landed, I ran, actually ran, through the Nashville airport, slaloming around clusters of people huddled together wearing eclipse glasses, staring up through the concourse's many skylights. I got to the top of the parking structure and set up my camera/tripod with maybe fifteen minutes to spare. I certainly wasn't the only one who had had this 'an airport parking lot is as good a place as any' idea. There were people from all over the country up there. There were a few clouds, but they cleared in time. I stayed out there for half an hour after totality ended, taking pictures through the solar filter, but it was August, and it was hot. My return flight took off 90 minutes after I packed up and went back inside the airport. Some people on the plane told me they had been at watching parties in other parts of Nashville that got clouded out. I won't use hyperbolic language like "breathtaking" or "changed my life." but I will say that for me, those few minutes of totality were definitely more than I expected them to be, an experience beyond just "looking at a cool, rare event." and I feel lucky to live in the path of this next one. Weather permitting. I'll get to share it with my 89-year-old father, who has never seen one. It gives me a warm feeling to think of how many people are going to get to have this new experience this time around. Weather permitting.
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