Airports

I am starting a new job this week. I will be a cashier at an airport store. Cashiering isn’t the sort of job that I would ordinarily go for. Its location is what drew me to it. I love airports. The first time, I think, that I traveled by airplane was when I was three. That was 23 years ago. Air travel was not nearly as common as it is now. I don’t remember that first time, but have been on innumerable flights since that day. One of my more memorable flights was from Mexico City to Los Angeles. We flew with Malaysian Airways. I remember the food being good and that the flight attendants gave us packs of cards to entertain us on the flight.

This blog, however, is centered more on airports. Airports are a place bursting with potential. People buzz through airports impatiently waiting to board flights. Every person has a story. All those stories in one place and reasons for going places are what make airports so wonderful. There are people going home, people leaving home, people traveling to vacation destinations and people on business trips. There are feelings bursting behind the polite publish masks of the waiting travelers. There is lots of hope and excitement as new adventures begin. Sorrow, sadness and nostalgia also abound for many people are leaving loved ones after being home for a visit. If I were not so reserved I would talk to as many people as I could, to discover their story.

I love stories. Every person has his or her own story. I love discovering stories and figuring out what makes people do what they do. Airports represent for me a fabulous feast of stories. I feel them in the air and even when I don’t talk to anyone I am inspired by creating the stories of the people around me. Airports are a place that to most people is an inconvenience that must be endured to reach a desired destination. I see them bursting with energy and potential. I love airports.