It is a place where I get to meet a lot of people, make friends, discover stuffs, buy some cute souvenirs and sometimes get treated to a sumptuous meal or simply get a taste of some of the local foodies.
I could still remember that day, when I was travelling back from a foreign assignment. I was on my typical long haul trip garb (translate: jeans, sweat shirt, snickers and back pack). There was this lady all dressed up, very classy and a respectable woman indeed. She approached me and asked if the seat beside me was available. I politely replied yes. When seated already, she started asking me questions about my trip and also shared some of her stories. In several instances, we have become so animated that I tried to picture out how odd the pair of us looked for a third person. But who cares, we had fun that time and I learned a lot from my Japanese lady friend.
There was also an instance, while waiting for the last flight out, I got to strike a conversation with a lady also waiting for her flight out but with a different carrier. I played a guessing game with her, speculating on her profession. I did not hit the target but then I was within the range I was. She’s a writer, I guessed a journalist. But that was not important, what I found out within the next 15 minutes is. She was experiencing a mid-life crisis and she was embarking on that trip trying to end the same. She shared that she left her family and came home to her parents to find herself. There was no major issue between the husband and kids and her. She was feeling rotten on her own. After leaving her family for more than three months, she was able to regain enough strength to finally face her family. Unfortunately, my conversation with her was cut short when boarding on our plane was announced. Lesson learned: it’s okay to stumble as long as you got up from that mess.
In one of the shorter trips I had, I met a researcher for one of the well-known search engine. She was a seat mate in the plane. We were not speaking with each other initially but when the plane encountered an engine trouble prior take off, we kind of hit it off. For more than 8 hours of wait, we covered a lot of topics. There is one information though that stuck in my mind. It was that hidden laboratory underneath a mountain that she visited either in Africa or in South America. It was actually a storage center for all the varieties of rice seedlings around the world. She shared that it was funded by an international organization and the goal is to have a copy of each variety for future use or development projects. I was in awe at that time, as I would only think of such facilities in a movie. Well, it simply means that food is indeed a priority of ours.
Another reason I love airports is the wide array of choices they have on giveaways. Being a Filipino, it is but natural to bring home some gifts to closest family and friends from places I visited. But whenever the travel is business, there is difficulty in finding time for local shopping. Airport stores bring convenience to business travelers.
I find respite on transit airports when it comes to food. Airline meals are not that reliable. Thus, I usually look forward to transit airports when in a long haul. I find joy discovering that restaurants in a busy airport could serve a delicious meal or even just a heartwarming soup. My tip is to befriend that receptionist in the information booth. She can give you directions as well as options.
Besides meals, there are also snackables available for filler or even as take home gifts. It has been my habit to try some chips or local delicacies whenever in airport. Oftentimes, I am satisfied with whatever I spent on them. My palate got introduced to some new tastes and I got to discover some really, really good and healthy food.
But what really made me love airports is that they bring me that joy of being able to travel, get to know places and faces, and a chance to explore the world.
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