Some of the most valuable experiences of my life have revolved around travel, and some of the travel I've done is just for work, either way I tend to enjoy the experience.
Travelling for work is not quite the same as travelling for personal reasons although I'm often left with a similar feeling of excitement; I guess there's a particular feeling about airports, probably due to the cross-section of people found there from many countries, socio-economic demographics and ages and all with their own reasons for being there...all complaining about how costly airport food is too I guess.
It's a bubbling cauldron of humanity really and I airports interesting.
I enjoy people-watching - airports are good for it; I have seen such funny things, very sad goodbyes, happy greetings, stern businessmen working, vacationers full of excitement, stars and notable people in transit, deploying and returning military personnel, children causing mayhem, (adults causing mayhem also), people sleeping on the floor, serious emergency situations, arrests, excited people, sexy air hostesses, and just about everything in between and it's really cool to watch humanity in action doing what they do, being human.
I've also had my share of drama like when I arrived for a flight home at 19:00h (7pm) for a flight that actually left at 07:00h (7am)...that cost me a new ticket and another night in Sydney. Another time I was delayed by twenty four hours due to an electrical storm and another storm caused a late departure from Helsinki airport to Heathrow in the UK...I had to run like a crazy man to get my connecting flight to Singapore then Australia - Not much fun at Heathrow. Overall though it's been a reasonable experience whether travelling for work or personal reasons.
Them main problem with travelling for work is that the destination isn't always enjoyable as it's work, even if it's a cool destination.
I don't find destinations all that exciting when on work trips as I usually have to pack into them a lot of work and end up in my hotel room working until late into the night so I am prepared for the following day; I also hate not being in control of the timing, bookings, hire cars, hotels and such things; relying on others to do that can be problematic. I usually don't sleep well when away from home either. But the need to fly is part of my work and I have no choice but to do it...at least I get the entertainment-factor from the airports on the way out and back in though...and that greeting when I get home is nice too, it's always a nice moment to see my two girls after being away for a period of time which will be happening soon.
I thought I'd put the question out there to you folks to see what you think about airports and, more specifically, if you have any airport airline related stories you'd like to comment on.
Have you had good or bad experiences, seen funny things or had a good or bad thing occur like me above? Have you had delays, missed flights or even been arrested by the APO on a flight...(Air Protective Officer)? Have you had a terrible goodbye or an amazing greeting at an airport, been deported or denied access through customs? If you're up for it, comment below.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own
I find I have to have, a "drone" mentality, when I navigate an airport.
There is a process in place to funnel thousands of people around, so to expect to buck that system, is to expect a painful time.
If, you just accept it, keep your manners about you, drink adequate fluids, and drone along - the experience can be quite fun.
my best time was arriving about 10 hours early for my flight at Changi Airport.
I had a great time. Enjoyed the Airport activities, free wifi, and so on.
I enjoyed the Airport more than Singapore itself.
I designed my own little bubble of existence. It was like a holiday.
I agree with the manners thing but so many do not, or maybe they just don't have any to start with? I've seen, and addressed, some bad behaviour...I'm not one to tolerate it...but then, an airport isn't the place to start stuff I guess so I mostly keep to myself, find a corner in a cafe or bar, a departure lounge that's not being used.
Changi is a pretty great airport...I always fly Singapore Airlines so have spent a lot of time there. Loads to do, good food and a lot of people to watch and observe.
Me and Audra LOVE airports. We love traveling of any kind actually - but airports are the best. As for experiences, we've had both good and bad (as you mentioned).
Last year, we flew to see Audra's son and his little family in Georgia. We drove 2.5 hours to Eugene, Oregon to fly out at 11pm with connecting flights - which included a layover from 7am to 10am the next day.
It was merciless - but do you know what I remember most?
The watered down Dunkin' Donuts coffee we waited maybe an hour in line to get during that long morning layover. Bloodshot eyes floating above sullen gray bags. Heart palpitations. Needed that coffee SO badly!!!
Worst coffee... I've ever put in my mouth. ☕🤮
Still, we kinda' loved the whole thing (minus that coffee... I just can't justify it). Lol.
Happy New Year, man!!!! :)
I always find somethin interesting at airports, funny, bemusing and so on. I guess if one gets so many different people together that's bound to happen. I have spent time in a lot of international airports and there's some sights to see, that's for sure.
Watered down coffee is bad wherever it's found...but a dunkin' donut can go a long way towards rectifying the wrong.
Happy new year to you, all the best for a good one.
I love everything about airports and flying. From buying the expensive food and snacks (maybe finding a TGI Fridays), to ambling around during layovers and watching all manner of people. I also love the smells of different places. They transport me into different realms of imagination and the exploration of new emotions.
For me, there's also this sense of freedom in flying. I feel this exhilaration like the world has endless possibilities - and possibility, for me, is one of the most attractive things about life.
Whether it's meeting someone new and hearing their story, or just being in a brand new place, or imagining what it'll be like one day too be an 'important businessman' flying for work like yourself.
I'd like to do that one day. Would be a whole new world for me. :)
Pretty much the same here, I enjoy the experience for the same reasons...although at times not so much.
Personal travel is awesome, the 'world is my oyster' feeling as you mention, and business travel can be, but is mostly not. People romanticize it and I guess it's cool initially but the more one does it the more it becomes a pain. Still, having said that, it can make for a nice change of scenery. I sometimes get to do road-trips also, I prefer those.
Good to know. Will put that into the brain bank: work to make personal travel possible -- and don't get too infatuated with traveling for work.
Yes! We love them so much. Drinking coffee (cheaper than in an airport) and talking about everything under the sun together. Eating fast food (also cheaper) in parking lots and watching people. Eating at restaurants (also cheaper).
...man, I think we just like any excuse to eat and drink coffee. Lol.
Also, getting worked up and excited about stuff (in a good way) -- and, of course, feeling that "oystery" feeling. As a fully remote freelancer, I've been able to do work meetings while sitting in the car at the beach, lol.
That part's really cool.
Well, not airport but I am a regular train traveller...and often enjoyed the....The exlerince is far more better than airport when you cover the long distances journey...it becomes a cool home away with Co passengers turning into families and it quite entertaining....in flight I see people generally occupied with their own stuffs and appears to be more mean and selfish...train coaches get a good happy playground
I find some train stations to be not unlike airports in that there's a collection of people all going about their own thing. I'm referring to the big ones in Europe that connect countries...they're very similar to airports I guess, and can be quite entertaining.
then u need to travel to Indian train..... but at your own risk 😉
Lol...oh yeah I have seen some video footage and a few documentaries...I think I'll pass on it...although it'd be an experience I guess. :)
I was sitting at the airport and waiting for the arriving plane that should bring me home from a business trip. During the day I went to a meeting at the company's branch in the capital of a neighboring country. I had nothing in my luggage except my laptop bag.
Due to a strong storm, the plane could not land and returned to the starting point. And so I was left without transportation, at the airport in another country, without any additional clothing and hygiene products.
I was well taught what to do in such situations.
I got to the information desk of the airline company that was supposed to take me back home and I didn't leave until they found me a place to stay in a hotel for that night, as well as a transfer to and from the hotel.
I managed to have dinner and a glass of wine at the hotel, put it on the airline company's account 😀
Early in the morning they organized another plane and with half a day's extension, without additional costs, I arrived home.
It was good of the airline to do that, I actually wonder how many times it happens around the world considering the weather is out of anyone's control.
I've had the night in a hotel situation happen, I mentioned the stork in my post above...the airline gave me a taxi card and accommodation, even paid for additional toiletries and food; I thought it wasn't too back considering they had to do so for a great many people, and the delay wasn't even their fault.
One of my visiting cousins did that recently! We teased her a little bit but that's probably an easy mistake to make XD
Amusingly everything you find interesting about airports is everything I absolutely loathe. There's to many people, it's too noisy, the buzz of that many people doing that many things in one place gives me massive headaches and makes it nigh on impossible to concentrate on anything and makes my skin prickle. I really, really, really hate the transit part of travelling XD The actual being wherever you're going is pretty cool though.
But I guess I can say the last one because I've never had to fly for work, it's always been vacationing/visiting family.
Lol...I teased myself...and deserved it! I was pretty focused on the work and all, I simply made an error of judgement due to a lack of attention. I paid the price though, literally.
I get the thing about the 'too many people' aspect but there's not much choice for people who want to travel, as I have and do and will. When flying for pleasure it's easier to deal with, when flying for business it's damned annoying, I just want to get where I'm going, to work when I'm waiting, and to keep to myself...Difficult to do in a major airport.
I can barely concentrate on normal airport things, really can't work in that kind of environment XD Do you manage to get work done while you're waiting when you're on a business trip or is it something that has to wait til you're in the accommodation/office/wherever you were going?
Even the less desirable things are fine when it's something you actually want to be doing XD
I don't get much work done...but, having said that, is observing and admiring air hostesses work? Hmm, methinks it could be.
Seriously though, I sometimes sit in the airline's frequent flyer lounge and work a little, and if not then the work I do is mainly clearing up email inboxes, organising computer folders and my calendar, sending texts and such things...it's not work per se, just work related.
I would still count tooling and housekeeping as work as it faciliates more efficient working. Guess one just has to not get too carried away with the tooling and remember to do actual work >_>
Oh yeah, the actual work element must be remembered or things don't go so well when it's time to be accountable. 🙂
Hi Galen, in 2020 I traveled by plane during the covid era. One of my trips was to Sweden in July, with airspace closed in many countries. It took me 24 hours to make a trip that is normally 3 hours. On that trip I was able to experience how the "pandemic" had a different meaning for each traveler depending on the country they came from. It was a complicated trip, with three stopovers and the possibility of getting stuck at any airport and not making it to the end of the trip. It was a very instructive trip, depending on the country of origin the passengers experienced the virus in different ways. From a simple flu to the end of the world. Here is a picture of a Chinese passenger. A hug
Hmm, yes I can imagine that would have been an interesting process and flight for sure.
Travelling with people that are clothed like in your image would have been a little strange. Was everyone dressed up like that?
I had a trip from my home town in Australia to Singapore, Denmark, Finland and return in June 2020....it was cancelled though and I think I'd not have wanted to travel anyway. I also had a trip cancelled from home to Tasmania for the same reason. Fortunately I was not out of pocket.
On another note...work day one of the year is now in the history books...Was busy and problematic, but I survived. I hope you're well.
I am fine, this is my first day of work and everything is going normally. About 2020 travel I went through Copenhagen airport before entering Sweden in July and that experience was strange, like the rest of the trip. Airports with no passengers, stores closed, it looked like a horror movie. The picture of the people in "space" suits is from August in Germany with European airspace open. Passengers got off a Chinese plane and they were all "dressed" the same. Anyway, that year Sweden became for a while a little paradise for me. Best regards
It sounds terrible and I'm glad I didn't fly in that period...Sweden sounds like it was valuable though, I've not been there...Been to Finland though and loved it.
On our recent flight we had a guy right in front of us that refused to get off his phone. Eventually he did and they didn't have to haul him away, but it was ridiculous. You are a grown man and you know the rules. It shouldn't take three different people telling you the same thing before you finally comply.
People can be assholes, entitled assholes, and I think you encountered one such person. It can be annoying to have to cut off a business call or something, I get it, but I fail to see what can be so important someone can't see to it prior to boarding or when they get off. Oh well...that idiot is right up there with those inconsiderate fools who recline their seat all the way back on short-haul flights.
I try to never recline my seat at all. I got called out on this last flight because my seat was back a fraction of an inch. I don't even remember hitting the button, so I was totally taken off guard. I moved it right away though.
Yep, on short flights I do not either, and on like flights, some have been 13-14 hours, I'm still mindful of those behind. It seems the polite thing to do.
Hehe, I was all smiling reading this. Your experiences on how humans have been themselves demonstrated while at the airport is fun!
I haven't been to the airport, but I have been to the train station and ... I have the same feeling while there. The last trip I made last year was so not fun but was later funny. Hehe.
They changed the setting of payment, and it wasn't fun because I had to run around to ask for someone to help. It was very frustrating, but I was able to check in and find my seat number. Hehe.
Here's a picture of the train I took some months ago. It isn't very clear because of the phone I used then.
Train stations can be similar, have a similar feel, to airports...more the large ones that distribute people to other countries like in the UK and Europe I guess. Wherever humanity comes together there's usually something interesting to see, an interesting person to meet...and the complete opposite too I guess...(not interesting people.)
Lol... haha, the last statement was a banger. And, yes, wherever people are gathered comes lots of drama. Hehe.
I've been on a good number of flights already, and I don't really like the experience. The flights are usually delayed and bumpy, I get a headache, and my nose gets clogged. My worst experience was when I had a connecting flight on Korea, and my flight was delayed. I had to talk to the airlines, have them book me to another airlines, and I still had to wait a few hours to before I can leave. I was on a vacation so time wasn't really a problem, but it was too troublesome. It was also midnight in the airport, so there was very little to do and buy.
Oh that's a bummer although I know a few who hate flying. I actually love it...there's little pressure...you're up there and if it all goes wrong there's literally nothing to do but accept the consequences; it's relaxing. Lol.
Delays are no fun though, I've had my share of them...midnight delays, even worse. I suppose it depends on the ramifications of the delay: Missed connections, delays to destination, nothing to do whilst waiting and so on.
You have had a lot of travel experiences! How amazing! I love reading these stories.
I myself have only travelled once by plane, it was very smooth, the controls were fine. The farewell was in Ezeiza and my best friend and my brother were there. It was very emotional because I was going to Spain with Catalina, my cat daughter.
Only one control I had to take off my high boots and have Cata in my arms, she behaved very well... But then when we arrived at Barajas she got very nervous because of the noises and I had to go to a secluded place, take her out of the travel bag and give her some tranquilizer drops that the vet gave me just in case. She calmed down. People looked at her .... it is rare to see someone travelling with a cat hahaha, but Cata was my anchor, my strength, I looked more for her than for me.
At the airport I was met by a taxi.... it was lonely. He took me to a hotel and from there my adventure here began.
I've travelled a lot really, it's been very enjoyable mostly and I've been lucky not to have too many issues, and no really bad problems.
Travelling with a pet must be difficult; I can't imagine taking Cleo, she's so timid, only likes me and my partner, and doesn't like loud noises and all...it would stressful for her. As I type this she's on the end of the bed looking at me...such a cute little thing.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll get to travel some more and I hope you have many more adventures.
Cata is very nervous, and she is by my side all the time, she trusts me only. During the trip I put my hand in the travel bag and never took her out, I gave her security and she was calm. I was very surprised but that's how it was. The vet told me if you are calm she will be calm.
I love Cata and Tony, they are my suns!
I hope there will be more adventures and if not... enjoy
It must be difficult for pets, they don't understand what's going on and that's when we need to make sure they're comfortable and comforted.
It's true.... if I told you... when Tony travelled with my mother and brother, he got out of his travel bag on the plane and wanted to go for a walk, he is very special and loving!
Greetings @galenkp .
Happy New Year!!! 🤗 (although a little late, especially for you).
I wish this new year to be full of desired travels.
All good over here
Happy new year to you also, I'm glad things are going well for you and I hope that continues all year and it ends up being a good one for you.
🤗
New account? Cool, let me know when it's up and running.
Flying is so stressful for me. Okay, maybe it is not the flying part but rather the bad preparation part. I barely fly short distance, they are much easier, but the long trips are stressful. Having too much luggage and being unprepared and stressed doesn't help. Going to a party the night before a flight neither and yet, the last night before leaving seems always perfect for a good last party.
Travelling with too much luggage is a nightmare, one if the reasons I generally travel light; that's an art in itself I guess.
As for being unprepared and parties the night before you fly...that's self-inflicted I guess, and of course, self-rectified if one requires it. 😊
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