I love airports! I love the hustle, the agonised goodbyes, joyful hellos and the tangible anticipation of a holiday not yet taken. In airport terminals things seem to happen in fast forward.
Usually once “I’ve shopped til’ I’ve dropped” in the duty-free outlets or until my credit cards are exhausted; I sit back with the obligatory refreshments watching the world go by. Even as a small child, people watching, has always been one of my most favourite occupations. In much the same way that one of my friends enjoys watching Kung Fu movies with her partner and re-enacting the fight scenes with him afterwards in a lot slower motion. Although, she did mention that it nearly always ends with a pulled ligament or broken ornament. So my hobby is positively pedestrian in comparison and a whole lot safer too!
I am fascinated by the rowdy fancy-dressed hen and stag parties, the world-weary business traveller and the naïve young explorers off to discover new places. Each in their own way has a story to tell and for a short while, we fellow travellers become their audience.
As I sit there invisible to all the cast, I wonder whether there’s someone waiting for the sole traveller and whether a happy homecoming lies ahead of them. Will the excited family have the happy holiday that they saved hard for all year and is it likely that the harried businessman will make that all important corporate meeting which made him miss his child’s birthday? Alternatively, the loving husband who keeps checking his watch and counting the hours until he is reunited with his wife along with the young backpacker eagerly returning to her family after a year’s sojourn across Europe.
Being in an airport reminds me that life is a constant circle of “hellos” and “goodbyes”. Whatever our circumstances or wherever we come from, our time on earth is enriched by life’s arrivals and departures however heart-breaking they may be. As my Grandma used to say to me when I was a small child and I had to leave her to return home, “If you don’t go away, how can I miss you?”
Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try to understand each other, we may even become friends.
Maya Angelou
Here’s something for you: http://frankfurtmalin.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/blog-of-the-year-2012-me-and-all-of-you/
Have fun!
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Thank you very much for thinking of me and I will have some fun (and a glass of wine)!
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Nice one….airports are fascinating places indeed 🙂 and your grandma was so right 🙂
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Grandma’s are very good at saying the right thing
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lol yes they are 🙂
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If I had a dime for all the tears I’ve shed at airports, I’d be rich!
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Me too Maggie!
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I also like airports, not all, Orly always stresses me.
But I agree, at the airports sometimes it fells like you could touch all the emotions going around.
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I am a tad concerned at the ones where the over zealous police carry machine guns!!! But I do love them and all the people you get to meet
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People watching in airports is a favorite past time. Often, the people who decide to strike up a conversation on a plane can be quite a trip, too. 🙂 Hmmm….I think you may have just inspired my next blog post. Thanks!
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I love that, as inspiration should be what the spirit of blogging is all about and afterall my fellow bloggers have inspired me on many a dark day
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I’ll try to link back when I write it. It’s a bit tough right now because I’m doing everything from my tablet.
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Honestly, don’t worry Kit it’s just nice to know that I have inspired someone else for a change and I’ll look forward to reading!
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Great photo – I feel excited just looking at it and I’m not going anywhere… and brilliant evocative title, such a sweet sad song… but most of all such a good post!
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I’m the same – think I’d shrug off the winter blues if I just booked myself a flight and thank you for your kind comment
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Poor you with the winter blues, it has been rain rain rain here, I feel like building an Ark!
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Winter blues or airport blues? They are fascinating places for those who don’t have to use them all the time 😉 Hope you’ll have a starring role in one soon.
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I once saw Kevin Costner in Istanbul airport whizzing past me on a golf cart (that’s how the Turks bus their celebs) but was too fast for me to get a pic!
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Rats! You’ll only ever see a celeb in airports out of the mega circuits as otherwise, their power is enough to open doors non of us are allowed to, etc etc!
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He was going so fast I didn’t even have time to stalk him or press my face against the windscreen and whisper “Kev I love you”!
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Carry a pocket full of tin tacks an you’ll be good in future 🙂
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What a lovely Grandma!
I think you’d make a great sleuth- your powers of observation are wonderful. A deerstalker for Christmas?
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A very big good detective – that could be my next career move and a lot less soul destroying that stacking shelves
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Start applying!
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I too love the emotion laden environments of airports! Watching the crisscrossing of so many lives makes me realise how overwhelmingly big the world is! Haven’t listened to John Denver in a while….that used to be my favourite song 🙂
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I always find myself humming that song when I’m sat in an airport, just can’t resist it!
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I love your grandmother’s question! I wish I could remember anything my grandmothers had to say. I remember feeling this way in train stations and airports also. Thanks for the reminder. We get pretty jaded and a good reminder is good. – Kaye
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You must travel a lot with the Late Bloomer Show but I can understand when you’re away so much how you want to the time to just fly by
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Actually, I’ve never been so grounded with my garden needing me every day! 🙂
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gosh you are a romantic you!! I hate airports… just a way to get me from A to B, just a way of passing through in the quickest possible way, I wish I could avoid them, but they are a necessary evil to getting to my destination. And I hate being surrounded by all those people… wish I could go through the VIP route… 😉
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I love airports, I have met so many amazing people in them that have shared their stories with me, so the time passes very quickly and I go away richer for the experience every time.
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I’ve become very British… never speak to anybody at the airport… 😉
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I met the Turkish equivilent of Girls Aloud and they were very sweet totally unaffected and wanted to know all about England
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Aw, I LOVE what your grandma said to you! So sweet! This whole post was so sweet 🙂
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I’m thinking that I probably need to get out more Jill!
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Great line from your grandma. Now I can’t get that song out of my head. My favorite part is the “hold me close don’t ever let me go.” I love to memorize that feeling. ❤
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I’m humming it as I try to recollect all the lines – will probably stay with me for the rest of the day now!
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You would get on well with my Mum – no matter what time of day or night, if one of us is arriving or departing, she will be there. She loves airports, too.
Me, I’m off to the airport to collect LM. Maybe I kinda’ feel the same way…
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I could sit there with your Mum all day!
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Yes, I always feel like a spectator when I’m sitting in an airport lounge. I wonder if anyone is watching me too. 😀 I love meeting family at an airport, but goodbyes are awful.
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Goodbyes are the very worse part of airports – I’ve had quite a few in recent times
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I always find folks who have traveled far more interesting than the bumpkins who have never budged from the one place they’ve always been. (for the most part)
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Definitely Gunta! It certainly does broaden the mind and reminds us to count our blessings.
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What a positive attitude to airports! I love them mostly because of the promises they hold – new countries, new people, family. And sometimes, as happened last week, you meet someone, after more than 12 hours travelling with a flight connection and substantial layover, who was in your departure airport and is now in front of you at immigration. It’s a small world.
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I love what you wrote and it is a very small world in so many ways
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Great post! The airport is a fascinating place.
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I’d love to work in one but sadly there isn’t one here in the sticks!
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Great post… Whenever I’m at an airport (or big train terminus), I love the feeling of all the possibilities of the places I could go, and yes, people watching – everyone seems to wear their feelings more openly, whatever they are – anticpation, dread [of flying], sadness, happiness… and there’s the shopping. I’m also intrigued by the non-reality – not quite here, not quite there – of airports, like you’ve stepped into another time/space zone. I hope you soon have a reason to be flying away again 🙂
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I love your comment too and was thinking what a great post it would make and I hope that I’ve squirrelled away enough cash from working all those ungodly shifts for my ticket back
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Do you wonder what people are thinking as they watch you?
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They probably think I’m a potential serial killer with a touch of the crazy cat woman thing going on!
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Do you mind if I share part of your post with a friend that just lost her brother today?
Beautiful, poignant, thanks.
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Of course, I’m honoured! I’m sorry for your friend the loss of a loved one is a devastating blow if it brings her any comfort at all, then I am humbled.
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People watching is one of my favourite pastimes and a very entertaining way to pass time waiting for a plane. Although i recently got a little too carried away in Hong Kong and almost missed my connecting flight!!! Ahem, rookie error indeed.
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I know that feeling, I was the only passenger on an internal flight and they had to call my name three times – of course, the Turkish pronunciation didn’t help!
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Great way to pass the time and you never run out of characters, even better when you get into conversation with a stranger and then find out they are totally different to what your scenario was making of them,
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You meet so many interesting people on your travels, I never consider a journey wasted
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I agree, every trip is a good one…
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i do hope you are working on a novel that you will definitely publish someday. the world would be blessed to read your observations/thoughts collected on papr. always enjoy reading your blog!
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As my good blogging friend Jennifer would say from “your lips to God’s ears” – that would just be amazing and I might possibly then get to give up the shelf stacking – thanks for all your kind comments from way back to when I started and a big kiss of Odie x
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Reading all the replies here I feel like the odd one out. I hate airports with all the hurry up and wait, the flight delays, the lack of information. I don’t people watch at airports, I just sort of retreat into myself, find a relatively quiet spot and read to pass the time. I don’t trawl the duty free, can’t be bothered shopping while carting hand luggage around as well. Gosh don’t I sound like a miserable old woman 😉
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But wouldn’t it be a boring world if we were all the same? I just clearly need to get out more!
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That was a beautiful post with that beautiful quote! 🙂
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Having just had a the world’s most godawful day, I was so pleased to read your quote – you will never know how much it has cheered me up!
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Oh! May everything turn out well for you soon ! God bless
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I have my favorite airports, some are great for shopping others great for people watching. I am a million miler on two airlines, being that business traveler you mentioned. I have long since stopped loving travel (the airplane part) but still love very often the destination. I still people watch in airports, don’t often shop except at Heathrow I always stop at one shop and buy a new charm for a bracelet (it is a fetish).
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I would be planning my next trip with all my air miles – no prizes for what my dream destination would be though! Is a Pandora bracelet – love them! My thing is watches!
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I enjoy the people-watching in airports, tourist towns, and shopping malls. And travel does remind us what things we take for granted. When it comes right down to it, we have more in common than not.
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well said! We take things & people for granted far too often!
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When I was a child, we would always dress up in our finest clothes to go to airports. In fact, it was a Sunday outing just to go to the airport. We didn’t go anywhere but it was if we had – and that made all of the difference to me. I knew there was a world to see and stories to hear, and music to sing. Your post reminded me of those wonderful times when I knew, deep inside, that life was going to a fabulous adventure….
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I love this,; I think that magical childhood experiences always remains with you in some way or another.
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I love airports too, as long as I’m not trying to sleep in one! The stories you can see there, if you are looking for them, are more densely packed than almost anywhere else–like the fruits and nuts in a fruitcake. I hope you haven’t seen the movie, “Love, Actually,” which opens and closes in an airport. I really enjoyed that movie, and hope you get to see it soon, too.
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Do you know I haven’t seen that film but I think my sister has the DVD somewhere so I may just dig it out for a rainy afternoon. You’ve just reminded me though how uncomfortable those seats are when you’re trying to grab forty winks!
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Loved this post, and your grandmother’s quote is so sweet. I grew up near an airport. We were right on the flight path for the main runway. The planes were low when they went over our house, and everything rattled. I loved that part. Even better was the outdoor observation deck. We could go to the airport whenever we wanted and watch the planes come in. We’d always go inside for something to drink and watch people for a while. I love airports, but now that I am older I always seem to be crying in them, whether I’m greeting a missed love one, or saying goodbye.
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There’s definitely something special about airplanes even when I see one now, I wonder where its going. How lucky were you to witness all the arrivals and departures.
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Hello…. goodbye! I ❤ the thought behind this post. Very, very true observation.
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I sense another fan of airports; maybe it’s the hint of far away exotic places that attracts us
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So wonderfully written! Sometimes, while in airports, to kill time I make up my own stories for people… if they only knew the webs I weave for them!
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You and I would have a field day if we were sat next together!
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People watching at airports nearly always has me teary-eyed (big softy, me) all those happy reunions and sad goodbyes – one Indian family at Delhi airport I’ll never forget; they were in bits as they said goodbye to their eldest daughter…
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Looks like most of us enjoy watching others at airports! No sneaking there without full make-up in future!! 🙂
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I always go without wearing any slap as I know that after I fall asleep on the plane, I’ll wake up looking like Norma Desmond
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Hahaha – I don’t believe a word of it. You are quite obviously naturally gorgeous 🙂
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touched by this post…
Seriously, just the thought of journey brings forth so many emotions….
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I worked in an airport for one summer, it was a student job. And as much as I disliked the boss and the constant rush, I loved the observing-people part. There was so much hugging, kissing, crying, waving, smiling…so much emotion! I loved it. 🙂
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Me too – I’m a sucker for a happy ending!
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Great post! I love airports. I love being ‘in transit’. Anticipation! Expectation!
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I’ve just been reminiscing about watching a Welsh hen party in an airport; I’m getting itchy feet already, bring on the sun
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Oh no not the itchy feet syndrome! I also suffer with CTS – caged tiger syndrome! Have a serious case of it at the moment and want to head for Baja Mexico. But the bank balance … sigh.
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Dallas, good morning. Just woken up – found this post. Told Jo I don’t need to buy books at airports anymore, will just read one of D’s pages. Best read!!! Sending you a cup of sunshine from here. Go on dreaming and counting. Ciao, Carina
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Good Morning Carina – how are things in your bit of paradise? I’m still dreaming and thank you for all your kind messages, it’s nice to catch up when I’ve finished my night shift
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I love your post! My humans work in aviation and they are still fascinated people watching as they go through the airports! you write beautifully I’m looking forward to future posts!
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Thank you so much – very kind of you indeed and I have been checking in on your adventures too!
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don’t mind me, just poking around your blog 🙂 and found this. do you mind if I steal that quote? i love it! I love people watching too.
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People watching is my most favourite past time and go ahead quotes and the written word were meant to be shared; a bit like good wine, chocolates and good news
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