Flying from Alpha to Omega
Airports serve as the commencement and terminus of many journeys, and sometimes they are as exciting as the trip itself.
Allow me to begin with some sheer honesty: I am by no means a seasoned world traveler. Yes, I have flown about here and there, but not to far and expansive regions of the world. I’ve spent time in large airports such as JFK, Philadelphia, Dublin, Atlanta, and Charlotte, while on the flip side I’ve seen smaller airports such as Wilmington, NC, and New Haven, CT. What has been realized in the journeys through these airports is that there are two very different, polarizing, if you will, types of travelers that utilize these travel hubs every day. The seasoned businessman who travels for work on a regular basis may simply see the airport as a means to an end. It’s in and out with no desire to do anything except to get from one place to another. Even the slightest of delays is enough to cause perturbation. On the other side of the aisle is the traveler who is in awe at this massive building with planes coming and going, and if time allows they will shop, eat, and take in as much information as possible about the city in which they find themselves. The airport also serves as a venue steeped in emotions that run the gamut from positive to negative, and everywhere in between.
Let’s return to that hurried business traveler, if only for a brief moment. This individual has no desire whatsoever to participate in the many novelties that the airport has to offer. Flying has become an emotionless task that has become so routine that it is performed with a knee-jerk mentality, and the sights, sounds, and people that are enmeshed in the act of air travel are ignored, if not intentionally, out of a mere aspect of travel serving as a gear in the mechanism of performing one’s occupation. The act of getting from Point A to Point B so happens to involve flying, so it’s all part of the job. I pity those who are so hurried in their travels that they are unable to engage in their surroundings.
On the other hand, is one who sees the airport as a phenomenon that is just as essential to the location at which he or she will soon arrive. When time allows, this individual will look around, listen, and even chat with others who are occupying the same space. The airport, aside from a place to people watch, is a museum in and of itself, allowing travelers to briefly gaze into a region with which there is no prior familiarity. Sampling local cuisine or purchasing an item from an airport gift shop can serve as an impetus for an expansion of knowledge of a new region of the world.
This art of learning becomes especially evident in airports that serve as a mere connecting hub, one in which a traveler comes, goes, and never actually puts the soles of their shoes in the city itself. The connection of varying length allows fliers to learn about somewhere they’ve never been before, nor have any intention of visiting, yet the acquisition of awareness of cultural norms and anecdotes of somewhere they’ve never been serves as an expansion of a worldview that may or may not have been limited to places visited before.
One must also consider that the airport serves as not only a hub for travel, but also as a setting that is rife with emotion. Travellers may feel unadulterated joy at the prospect of leaving for or arriving in a new location, while at times nerves due to the elevated state within the confines of a small metal tube hurtling through the atmosphere at hundreds of miles per hour may dampen the mood to the point of alcohol becoming involved in order to remove an edge that would otherwise be present until the journey concludes.
Yet even more noticeable is the interpersonal emotion involved with dropping off and picking up fliers. Tears are shed, arms are interlinked, and kisses are aplenty as one either waves hello or goodbye upon seeing their loved one for the first time. Spouses, friends, or siblings may, with flight number in hand, use an array of smartphone apps to track the flight of their loved one as it comes or goes, feeling a sense of relief once the flight grinds to a halt with wheels on the runway. As the flight lands, the watcher of the animated flight path may either return to whatever they were doing, or, if making a pickup, depart the cellphone lot and make the drive to the Arrivals terminal, eagerly awaiting a reunion.
While emotion is a major aspect of flight, the airport can also serve as a window into a city otherwise closed to those who do not observe their surroundings while coming and going. Whether one chooses to recline in one of the white rocking recliners at Charlotte Douglas Airport, imbibe with a Guinness at Dublin Airport, or grab an authentic cheesesteak at Philadelphia International Airport, the opportunity to immerse oneself in culture is ripe for the picking, even if the airport is the only location seen in a particular city. Airports serve as amazing microcosms of cities themselves, and to the traveler who is willing to learn, an impactful lesson can take place in a matter of minutes, if eyes and ears are kept open.
Even those who live within relatively close proximity to an airport are presented with an opportunity to engage in the comings and goings of those onboard the several jet planes that may fly over a home, apartment building, or car on the road. Modern technology has provided us with the opportunity to point our phone cameras skyward and discover to or from where a plane is traveling. With experience, one learns that the massive low flying planes in the afternoon or evening are often coming from abroad, travelers having spent at least six hours on board, and likely ready to set foot on solid ground again. Much like one may wonder in the throes of a traffic jam where all of the cars are going, we may wonder the same about the plane above our heads, possibly wondering about those on board. Are they coming to visit family, work, transfer planes, or simply vacation? Or if the plane is ascending, are they off to do the exact same things in a different city?
Ever since the Wright Brothers took to the air one hundred twenty-two years ago, man has fixated on conquering the skies with a fervent desire to fly higher, faster, and to more locations. Air travel will continue to become all of the preceding things, but in order for that to happen, the journey must begin and end somewhere. Airports will always be an integral piece of air travel, and to the traveler who is willing to scrutinize a building in which they may only spend a few moments, more can be learned about a location, but also the human condition itself. The airport, besides allowing a view of a city, can allow us all to learn more about our fellow passengers on planet Earth as we hurtle through space surrounded not only by the Moon, but thousands of planes that carry us from one place to another.
As a former traveler, who has seen a few airports in my time, though none lately, this was an interesting "excursion" for me. Your essay also highlighted the difference in mind-set between those who want to go from one point to another quickly, and those who are at that one point – the airport – and willing to explore it or connect to it in their present. I very much enjoyed reading your musings, because they – like the airport – open doors to other aspects of reality, not only physical ones. People's thoughts, emotions, expectations and even destinies.