Airports are weird

An airport is a curious place.  All common sense leaves us when we go to the airport.  Comedian Louis CK sums it up nicely in this Safe For Work clip:




Yes! Every single person in the airport should be looking out the windows marveling at the complex and wondrous achievement that is human flight. They sit in a little room that has a bridge that leads to an airplane. A room that is connected to restrooms, food, news, a security system in place to remove many threats, a baggage system that routes checked bags to the proper plane, a group of people in a little room way up high making sure the giant conveyances outside don't collide, killing hundreds.  Just thinking about it fills me with wonder that we ever got to this point from the Wright Brothers.  But, do we appreciate this technological ballet for what it is?

No, we act like toddlers.

I see it day in and day out.
"Our flight is delayed 20 minutes?  I'll miss my connection!"
"A bottle of water fell out of the overhead compartment and I was hit on the head. I want an upgrade."
"Oh, $13 for a ham sandwich? Why not?"

Airports are weird.

I heard it said that an airport is the only place in the world where you can eat a slice of pizza, with a beer, in your pajamas at 7 in the morning and no one even bats an eye.  And all for about $25.

We have these lofty expectations for air travel, that our seat and itinerary are the only ones today and any deviation from said itinerary is an affront to the almighty God.  Relax Becky, they'll get you to Tulsa.

Like Louis CK said, everyone on every plane should be ecstatic!  You're in a chair in the sky!  Travelling like the beings of myth, yet you forgot to have breakfast, got only 3 hours sleep, had 4 rum and cokes at 10am and now here I am, your vomit in a little bag, and you're blaming me for missing your flight as if this is the worst possible thing one human being could do to another.

Airports are weird.

The food is too expensive but you didn't eat before you got here.  The food has always been expensive, but some folks walk in expecting the menus to suddenly be like back home where a coke is only $2.50. We arrive hoping to be comfortable on the flight wearing pajamas, slippers and carrying little pillows that go around our necks.  People plan for a 2 hour flight better than a 3 hour car ride?  Why?

Because airports are weird.

That bug bite on your leg you keep scratching is red.  You pinched your finger in the stroller. You think you forgot your nausea medication. You forgot to read the instructions that say you have to charge the batteries of the O2 condenser overnight before flight and there won't be a power plug at your seat.  For any of these things folks call 911.  They wouldn't at home (at least in most cases) but again, we aren't at home.

Airports are weird.



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