My fiancé and I were talking the other night at dinner about upcoming holiday travel. I mentioned that I loved airports (not flying – that part sucks. It’s the worst! Nobody wants to be stuck high up in the sky in a literal tin can for hours with no way to escape). But airports are nice because if I’m at the airport, chances are, I’m either on my way to somewhere fun, or I’m on my way home. “You’re a psycho,” my fiancé said cheerfully and kept eating.
“But I’m right,” I said, unperturbed. This is the hill I’ll die on! Airports are GREAT! Most of them are large and airy – the Kansas City International Airport comes to mind as an exception because that shit is TINY (but on the other hand, it’s also foolproof! You literally can’t get lost in that one. Boom, silver lining) – and the food options get better and better every day (will it surprise you to know that I disagree with this Food & Wine assessment that the Cobb salad is your best food bet at an airport?).
The airport is also one of the very few places it’s socially acceptable to do basically anything at any time of day like order a glass of wine at 9 a.m. or eat an entire hamburger for breakfast. Seriously, no one will even blink. A while back I saw a tweet from a comedian that said, “The airport is a lawless place. 7 a.m.? Drink a beer. Tired? Sleep on the floor. Hungry? Chips now cost $17.” And it’s TRUE. When you’re wandering around the airport at 6:30 a.m. or midnight, time has been suspended. It doesn’t exist! The real world is somewhere behind you, outside where the sun sets at 4 p.m. now and blankets everything in a layer of gray. Nothing matters and everything has been turned upside down. You’re between places, and it’s magical. You can do and be anything you goddamn want (within reason, obviously! I mean, don’t do anything completely weird or, you know, illegal).
For the most part, if you’re waiting at an airport, you’re on your way to somewhere else you want to be (vacation, wedding, holidays, honeymoon, girls’ trips, etc). Obviously there are some exceptions. But I think what I most love about airports is they feel like an opportunity to do or be something different for just a moment. Maybe it’s that they give you permission to indulge in whatever it is you’ve always wanted to talk about but never have – what you would do if you won the lottery, how you’d quit your job if you could, where you’d go if money were no object, what you’d say to that person you’ve always loved (or hated!) if you could only find the words. Sitting at the airport with a glass of wine is the perfect time to dream about that bookstore or bakery you always wanted to open or think about how maybe one day, you’ll just hop on a flight to Paris and never come back. And it’s a completely safe, low-stakes way to do so, to ask yourself: Who would I be if I weren’t me?