-Welcome aboard-

Myriad scenes at airport. Stop for a while and notice.

It is very common to have to wait at the airport before you board your flight and it actually takes off (trust me, sometimes flights stay on the runway for hours. They are lazy). My brain is funny. Somehow, it senses that I am at an airport and it starts manufacturing thoughts to write, at the speed of a light, or a flight. So here I am again, writing about all that I observe around me.

Starting with the outside of an airport. If you carefully observe the expressions on people’s faces, you would be thoroughly amused. Take a travelling family of 4 members for example (Mother, father, and two kids). Each member is experiencing something different.

-The father is worried about not getting late to the airport and ensuring the luggage gets checked in properly and things of that sort.

-The mother has nothing to do with the airport or the flight journey. She is worrying about not leaving the hot water geyser switched or about leaving the refrigerator switched on. Because if you mess that up, you will reach home to a hefty money bill and no food that is not spoilt. The mother is also recollecting whether she told all the maids that they will not be at home for a certain number of days.

-The kids, if below 15 years, are super excited no matter wherever they are going. There is a reason behind that also. All flight attendants are super biased. The kids gets free toys and chocolates and adults have to pay for water as well!

-But if the kids are above 15 years, unless it’s an international trip, they are going to be super grumpy. They hate leaving their schedule behind.

Coming inside the airport, the scene is less emotional and more chaotic (confused too). Now there are two types of people inside an airport.

1. Frequent travellers- These are basically people who travel quite often, so often, they could navigate the airport even while being blindfolded. They come in, get their boarding pass, go through security check, have their regular coffee, board the flight, find their seat, and go to sleep. Smooth as butter.

2. Newbies- This category includes first-timers or people who travel once a year or something like that. For them, the airport is like their worst nightmare. They don’t know where to go and what to do. And the hustle just scares them further. They would ask 3000 times whether the flight has already taken off. They will be the first ones to run up to the gate when the respective gate opens. They would be unusually jumpy and excited. This category listens to the safety procedure demonstration really carefully. Nobody paid so much attention even in school.

(Flight crew people are really so well dressed. It’s intimidating. I only attempt to dress well on an international flight. Otherwise pajamas are just fine for me. But the uniforms of the flight attendants are so crisp and white, it’s blinding. Also, they have expensive watches and cologne and hair done well and shiny shoes. They also speak so fast, I falter while replying back.

All of that scares me. I just go off to sleep).

It’s an extremely mind blowing experience to pick up a public place and observe the happenings. We tend to ignore the minute details of everything going around us these days. So when at the airport waiting for your ride, shun the earphones, skip the video watching, and keep the book away. And just notice.

Flights and thoughts both take off at an airport.