A night at the airport

Airports are interesting places to observe an international crowd, explore new airport areas, and think.

I would have written all night if only my laptop had connected to the airport’s Wi-Fi network without making my life difficult.

But my laptop decided it didn’t want to connect to the network or do any work. I had to find something else to do until my 9:50 am flight. That was a 12-hour wait.

Every time I book morning flights it seems like a great idea. Until I realise, the day before the flight, that I no longer have the energy for all it implies.

“Sure I can take an early morning flight without a problem. After all, I always wake up rather early.”

What I never seem to consider, is the time it will take me to get to the airport, the timetable of the public transport, and if the trains will be cancelled or delayed that day, something pretty common these days in England. Soon we’ll call England the second Germany. Anyway …

I decided I would not risk missing my flight, or getting stressed, which I definitely didn’t need.

I decided to calmly go to the airport — without any rush — in the evening prior to my flight and spend the night there. I normally spend many nights writing. Why not do the same at the airport? It sounded like a perfect plan.

As it turned out, I was right about the train delays. My 8:04 pm train was delayed, indeed.

I, again, found myself spending a night at the airport, much like any seasoned digital nomad does every now and then. Just like I had done some other times in the past.

Of course, the last time I spent a night at an airport was a very long time ago. I was not sure if this time I was going to have the same energy.

“I should do something interesting, at least, find something or see something I’ve never seen before.”

But first, I found a quiet spot to eat the sandwich and banana I had brought with me for supper. It was now close to midnight; I was getting tired.

I slowly walked to the lady’s room to powder my nose. :)

Midnight is the time the cleaning team at the airport starts their shift.

“Perfect timing,” I thought. “I’ll let them work in peace and I’ll come back later.”

The dysfunctional fashion show

I was sitting sipping an Okay cup of coffee (can’t they make better coffee?) at Nero Café to keep me awake whilst watching the international crowd walking toward the security check zone for the super early flights.

To have some fun I imagined I was at a fashion show. Because, what’s the current fashion trends after all?

“This must be a great opportunity to see what’s on trend.”

My stars! I was surprised, and not in a good way.

Men dressed like seven-year-olds looking exactly like bigger versions of their sons. Women of all ages dressed in what seemed to be no more than underwear without some real clothing on.

Seriously?

Some, wearing what looked like their old ugly PJs, perhaps because they were catching such an early flight they simply woke up and left to the airport as they were. Right.

A simple summer dress and flat shoes take no longer than three minutes to put on and are comfortable. The messy hair in a ponytail would look more presentable. They would look so much nicer.

That’s all it takes to look presentable as well as comfortable. Why do people no longer care about their appearance?

Is that what is fashionable now?

I decided to go “for a walk” before heading to security since it was still early for my flight.

All faiths welcome

As I was walking mindlessly up and down the corridor on the first floor (second floor for the Americans), I see a sign, one I had never paid attention to before: Chapel — all faiths welcome.

That must be interesting!

I am not religious but this was the only bit of the airport I had never explored. However, this time I decided to go and see what was in there out of curiosity and to kill some time.

First, I found it incredibly interesting that all faiths could share the same space and people from all religions could be in harmony at the same time under the same roof.

If they can do it there, why on Earth can’t all religions live in harmony on the planet instead of killing and hating each other as they do just because they have a different faith? I am not going to go there, though; that’s a too deep and complicated topic to include here and now.

There were different open areas designed for each of the faiths. There was a desk right next to the entrance where there were several little booklets for different faiths at a price of £2 if you wanted to take one with you, I guess.

There was one that caught my attention because it was something unknown to me: Celtic Christianity.

I’ve always been interested in the Celtic culture, music, and history. But not much about religion which is simply not my cup of tea.

I took one of the little Celtic Christianity booklets, sat there by the desk for a while and started to read. I am not sure what I expected — if anything, and I soon lost interest. I put the booklet back where it was.

I wondered how and when the Celtic Pagans morphed into Celtic Christians. I guess the same as usual, the Christians at the time killed and/or converted the Celtic Pagans. I thought about doing some research about this at some point.

Now it was already time to go to security.

Boarding, at last!

I had successfully kept myself entertained all night. It was time to finally board my flight and have some rest before landing. I had also successfully changed my seat to 3F, one of my favourites, because when I self checked-in I saw the middle seat was not booked, meaning more space around me.

A minute after taking off, I had my sandwich breakfast and mini water I had brought with me on board, I read one page of the book I am reading, lowered the window shade, put my sunglasses on, and slept for the duration of the whole flight.

It was a perfect flight!

Remember Tom Hanks’ movie The Terminal? This is perhaps a good time to rewatch it. Can you imagine living in an airport for an extended period of time?

Until next time, happy travels!