Airports: A Love Affair

Airports are sort of beautiful in a strange way. The wait, the excitement in the air, the stress, the smell, the exhaustion, the luggage, the babies crying and kids running around….it all combines into something unique and wonderful that no other environment in our world can provide.

I feel like I’ve grown up in airports. Some of my earliest memories are of traveling with my mother to the United States from France during summers or the holidays. I remember waking up early (when it was still dark out!) to catch our plane to the U.S. I remember walking quickly through the airport and going through security and waiting impatiently at our gate until we were allowed to board. [Somehow security was much less scary then!].

Take-off was always a rush--a mixture of pure excitement and dread. What if something malfunctioned and we didn’t make it off the runaway? I remember saying a little prayer every time before taking off. Just a little something to make sure all went smoothly. Once in the air, I would wait expectantly for the flight attendant to go over the all too familiar safety briefings. I remember looking around at the people around me, adults who always seemed to be ignoring these important safety instructions, and thinking to myself, “Wow, these people are so ungrateful for their lives! What if something went wrong and they died because they didn’t listen to the instructions? Look at them reading their newspapers while the flight attendant is talking! I should pray for their safety too…”. And so I did. And when our plane landed safely I would thank the all-powerful deity I believed in at the time [my religious/spiritual beliefs have always been fluid…as they are to this day]. I would exit the plane full of excitement and wonder at what new adventures awaited me.

I still enjoy the atmosphere of airports [unlike most people]. Of course, the stress and hurry aren’t ideal, but these are only minute details that are part of a greater whole—a “whole” that becomes what is an airport and the implications thereof. The most obvious implication is travel, which in itself, opens up a whole world of opportunities and new experiences. Travel means learning and re-inventing yourself. Airports have become, in my mind, an indication of possibility, potential, exploration, and renewal . We travel to lose ourselves and to become ourselves. We leave to move on and forget, only to return again and remember [but this time with a brand-new perspective and a fresh outlook]. We explore other worlds to be destroyed and re-built. To be enriched and debunked. When you forget to travel, you forget to grow. You miss out an opportunity to expand and become.

So next time you are in an airport--undoubtedly stressed and impatient to get to your destination--stop for a moment and take it all in. Notice the hussle, notice the children’s voices, notice the ugly carpeting, notice the airplanes coming and going….coming and going….coming and going.
See it. Feel it. Love it. And go.


Note: This passage was originally written on December 31st, 2009, after I had done a lot of traveling and spent quite a bit of time in airports.