“there is no one, however lonely or isolated, however pessimistic about the human race, however preoccupied with the payroll, who does not in the end expect that someone significant will come to say hello at arrivals.”
we are told to never judge a book by its cover, but it is hard not to do so with alain de botton’s ‘a week at the airport,’ which has a crisp photograph of heathrow airport in london at night and from a distance, the airport at which de botton was allowed to spend one week carte blanche. the book is short, separated in sections of departures, airside, and arrivals, peppered throughout with photographs of his experiences from photographer richard baker.
i purchased the book in brooklyn after being immediately arrested with the cover and the idea. to spend an entire week in an airport seemed at once exhausting but also intoxicating. we so often hurry through airports rushing towards our flight, exhausted on arriving after a red-eye, frustrated at canceled trips due to dubious weather changes. terminals see all range of emotions, eloquently described by de botton with his stories of both the anguish over a traveler’s missed flight when the aircraft was still parked fifty feet away, and the homecoming triumph of a father hugging his young son who he hadn’t seen in months.
chaos at the airport in buenos aires after cancelled flighs, angry passengers, and flight crews who discussed the flight status in front of me, not knowing i understand spanish.
when flying home, i always look for familiar faces at the gate as i deplane, expecting friends and family to randomly be boarding the next flight (since we live in the same city) rather than the more probable line of people connecting to a flight from another location. i rarely eat at the nicer restaurants, preferring an egg mcmuffin to the finer establishments lining the halls with the perhaps surprisingly stunning front-row views of people outside of their element, mostly alone, forced to find their way in an often unfamiliar and confusing landscape. what a gold mine!
de botton’s week at the airport provides not only insightful observations of the goings-on at an airport – coupled with photos that bring the writing to life – but also creates in the reader a yearning to go back to these airports with a different view. we expect so much from our travels (is it too much to ask for a trip to change our lives?) and our time at the airport – which bookends our travel – can reflect our expectations in surprising ways.
do you have any great airport stories?