Terminal Velocity, Vol. II
A follow-up to one of my most-read letters with new tips, updated takes, and a lounge concept that changes the math
Have you ever found a flow state airside? Your Uber pickup is timed so precisely that you arrive within the exact window you prefer, whether that's enough time to grab a coffee and board, or to leisurely grab a bite and still make it to your gate without breaking a sweat. You’re through security so efficiently you imagine the TSA agents must be clapping in their heads for you. You know exactly when to place your mobile coffee order so it’s ready the moment you clear the checkpoint. You know how long the walk from the lounge to your gate takes, so you don’t spend a single extra minute you didn’t plan to. So much of the airport is ritual at this point—the same outfit, the same snacks from the same spot in the terminal—and because none of it requires a decision anymore, once you're actually there, you're basically on autopilot. Which, when you have to wake up at 4am for a flight, can be your saving grace.
I've been chasing that feeling for as long as I've been traveling, and trying to help you find it too, ever since I published Terminal Velocity: a guide to achieving maximum efficiency at the airport. It became one of the most-read letters I’ve written and something a lot of people resonated with (Hailee Steinfeld told me it was a personal favorite, which I think about more than I should!) and the reason, I think, is that it gave people permission to take the airport seriously. To treat it like a system you can actually get good at rather than something that just happens to you.
Since that letter, I've been logging more miles and refining my own system. Consider this the updated edition: same philosophy, more material.
But first, the one principle that sharpens everything else in this letter: Your travel-day self is operating at a deficit. You’re tired, you’re carrying things, and there’s enough to keep track that a low-grade stress automatically becomes an ambient condition of the entire day. Instead of trying to make better decisions in a state like that, why not try to make as few as possible? Do the work before you ever get to the airport so that, once you’re there, you don’t have to decide anything. You’re just following a plan that your more rested, more rational self already made for you. That’s the through-line. Everything below is an expression of it.
The lounge problem, and the solution
Here’s something I’ve been sitting with since the original letter: the airport lounge, as a category, has a design problem.
Most lounges were built for dwell time. They assume you have multiple hours, that you think a buffet is the pinnacle of gastronomy, and that you're perfectly happy serving yourself a lukewarm plate of food that'll probably make your stomach hurt. That model made sense when the airport was merely a waiting room. But the travelers I write for aren't waiting. They have a specific window and want to use it deliberately.
Which is why, when American Express invited me to Las Vegas last week to be among the first to experience their new lounge concept, Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge, something clicked. Here, finally, was a lounge built for the second kind of traveler. Here, finally, was a lounge built for the second kind of traveler: the one without hours to kill, who wants to feel reset before a flight, not just fed or given a slightly better spot to sit.
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Sidecar was designed specifically for solo travelers and shorter pre-flight windows, and it completely rethinks the lounge format. No buffet, table service only. You sit down, scan a QR code, and a server comes to you. One decision, made once, handled. The menu was developed by James Beard Award-winning chefs and the dishes are specifically composed to make you feel good before a long travel day.
The space itself has a speakeasy energy; intimate, beautifully designed, and genuinely more like a favorite neighborhood haunt than what you’d expect to find inside an airport. It’s located near gate D1 (right down the hall from the original Centurion Lounge!), and it’s complimentary for Amex Platinum cardholders within 90 minutes of departure. Here’s a pro tip for you: because the space is intentionally small (we’re talking around 30 seats), check the Amex app ahead of time for availability and get your name down before you head over (the pre-planning principle, always!).