My Love For Airports

I’ve spent a decent amount of time in airports. I would guess I have spent more time in airports than the average person, but I don’t know what that statistic really looks like. Maybe the average person hasn’t even been to an airport, or maybe they go multiple times a year. Since the pandemic started, I haven’t been in airports very much. I haven’t had a lot of time, and now everyone is kind of all over the place. Traveling as a family would be hard to arrange due to all the random schedules we have. The glory days were the years right before COVID. I think I was on a flight more often than I was in school. My family loves to travel, and we’d go somewhere over every break. It was amazing. 2018 and 2019 were some of the best years of my life. I know I’m only nineteen and I have plenty of good ones to come, but those two years were so fucking phenomenal. I spent so much time traveling, spending time with my family, and playing golf around the world. It makes me pretty sad that the only time I have needed to go to an airport in the last year is to get to or home from a funeral. The reason I’m writing this post right now is because I’m actually on a plane. I’m flying to Wisconsin for my grandmother’s funeral. A part of my love for the airport comes from the actual pick-up and drop-off locations. If you want to see real love, the pick-up and drop-off locations at airports are almost as good as it gets. People show how they really feel about you at an airport. If you are going away, people want you to know they’ll miss you. You want to hug them, kiss them, and tell them that you love them. I sat outside the Syracuse airport for almost an hour once just listening to people saying goodbye or returning from a long trip. It’s a good show, lots of raw emotion. Another thing I love about the airport is the companionship of it all. Going somewhere with someone is always fun, but the airport never disappoints as being the worst part of a vacation. The companionship you feel when you’re going through the airport with someone is great. You are both miserable. You both want it to be over with, but you are either so excited for the trip or still telling stories from the past week or so. I remember landing at London Heathrow and having a hard time getting our rental car. My dad and I bought two Cokes and a bunch of Cadbury Buttons and just sat on our luggage talking about what courses we were most excited to play. When we finally got to our car, it was so fucking small. I have a picture still of how the luggage was encroaching into our front seats. I’ll always remember that airport and how sick I felt after eating all that chocolate. I miss going to airports all the time, but I was really happy to be in one again today. I missed having a travel buddy, and it obviously isn’t the best circumstances, but god, I love the airport. Happy Monday, everyone!