i love airports

i love the chaos, the hustle and bustle, the thousands of people with their plans and their boredom.

i love them for different reasons than i used to.

when i was a kid, i loved airports. i loved the airport bathrooms, because they were crowded and busy and clean and people were moving quickly.

i loved the treat that was watching movies on the planes, i loved watching the flight attendants buckle buckles that kept nobody safe, and i loved yogurt parfaits.

i loved the window seat the most, and my sister and i fought each other for it. when i won our battle i’d move the window cover up and down, open and closed, and do the same with the tray table. the seat on an airplane is prime play territory, so many things to do, so many things to keep me occupied.

it’s more difficult to keep myself occupied than it used to be.

well, really, it’s much easier. i’m not really ever bored anymore. how could i be? with my laptop and phone and second phone and classes and business and book and blog and more friends and apps and travel plans than i know what to do with.

there’s something to be said about neglecting to plan.

because, as you already know, nothing goes according to plan.

we like to pretend otherwise, especially in airports.

in airports, things are planned carefully. flights are scheduled, bags are checked, security is tight, and everything, must always, go according to plan.

when things don’t go according to plan (as always) airports, airplanes, travelers, staff crumble. delays and canceled flights and overbooked hotels and lost baggage and revised seat assignments are just a few threats in the airport. maybe that’s why we all have our ears plugged with airpods and headphones and our eyes blinded by flashing pixels. it distracts us from the terror, the stress of traveling. because there is so much that could go wrong, and for some reason nobody believes in their ability to handle

mistakes

when traveling.

i don’t really understand if we’re being honest.

to me, airports are not that different from everyday life. the only real difference is we’re all going somewhere, and we’re here because we’re going somewhere, and we all know exactly where we’re going.

because of that, we need to get there as fast, as easily as possible. and we can’t stand for mistakes, because aiports are wastes of time, they are some in-between, no man’s land, places nobody really wants to be because airports are never the destination.

c’mon now.

can’t we learn to appreciate the journey like we used to?