Traveling is more than just a means of reaching a destination; it is a gateway to different worlds, allowing us to explore diverse and rich cultures, traditions, and ways of life. It is a window or perhaps a door that is wide open for you to enter. Much emphasis is on traveling, and not much credit is given to airports. They are where all the magic is. I am writing this ironically from the airplane on my way to Rome. It’s one of many flights I’ve taken in the past few years, whether I am taking the 6 am flight or the 11 pm one. Since 2023, my life has been filled with movement—boarding planes, catching trains, and hopping between cities.
Some trips were for work and others for pleasure, but all reinforced a single truth. Airports are a microcosm of the human experience. I have found moments of exhaustion, amusement, frustration, and wonder between departure gates and arrival halls. The airport has become a second home, and I have started to enjoy waiting. Throughout instances of waiting, you get to read untold stories from strangers’ faces, from aching goodbyes to unfolding reunions.
Mastering the Art of Airports
By now, I realised that I had become an airport regular. From the once-stressful check-in counters and security lines to running to the gate for boarding, these had become a familiar rhythm. By now, I move through airports with ease. Repeating the same procedure numerous times can seem dull. However, there is beauty and excitement in finding a seat at a crowded gate where I can charge my phone and read a book. Or when checking the departure gate multiple times, waiting for the gate number to appear finally.
Observing Life in Transit
During long or short layovers at airports, whether in Berlin, Geneve, Brussels, or Madrid, I seized the opportunity to observe people. Honestly, it is fascinating to realise that people from all over the world share for once the same reality in the same waiting area; waiting to leave somewhere in this world. Isn’t it incredible? Staying in airports somehow became some social experiment, and with time, travelling from one airport to another eased. I decided to spend time slowing down for once to observe my surroundings.
Once, I read somewhere that airports show the most genuine emotions from people, and I couldn’t agree more. They are places with often heightened feelings, where love and longing, joy and sorrow, play out a symphony marking new beginnings, leaving loved ones behind, ending a chapter, or taking a pause before returning to reality. I sometimes feel that airports let people feel their feelings without restrictions, and many, including myself, seize the opportunity. In fact, I am someone who cries easily but often holds my tears back out of habit. Nonetheless, since travelling frequently, I found myself letting out my tears easily in airports and on airplanes, often silently crying surrounded by strangers.
The Other Side of the Arrival Gate
Most of my travels have been solo. I arrived at many destinations alone and often did not have someone waiting, but I still enjoyed the times I now get welcomed by my dear father no matter how late I arrive. However, when I got my suitcase, I used the time I had to be at the arrivals door, observing those waiting for their loved ones and wondering how long they were waiting for them.
It is always heartwarming to see people holding flowers, handwritten signs with names scrawled in bold letters, or just those waiting for a target person to emerge from those doors on a business trip. But mostly, those long-awaited hugs where their embrace dissolving the distance that had separated them. The beauty of airports is that they hold many emotions and raise questions about those waiting, but you will never know. You only get to witness these moments briefly before returning to your reality.
What Airports Teach Us About Life
Airports, in a way, are reflections of life. They are a reminder that everything is temporary. For instance, goodbyes are not always final, and delays are inevitable, and no matter how hard you plan, things will not always go according to plan. Airports teach us patience, you will learn to be patient during long the line of check-ins, security, and waiting for the gate to finally open for boarding. With time, I learned to embrace these pauses and see them as an opportunity rather than wasted time. I started to see it as a chance to slow down as much as possible and disconnect from the fast pace of life outside airports. It is like entering a different world and letting yourself be, for once, without worrying much about the external world.
Most importantly, airports reinforce the idea that we are all in transit no matter where we come from. Whether we are crossing continents or simply moving from one chapter to another, we are always on our way somewhere, and this reminder has so much beauty. It is beautiful to see through airports how people leave their loved ones for a long-awaited dream or a better opportunity, and then there are those returning home after spending years away.
As I prepare to land in Rome in a few minutes, a destination I know well, I remind myself that every journey, no matter how familiar it may be, leaves an impression. It serves as a reminder that the true essence of traveling lies not in the destination itself but in all the experiences and moments that occur along the way in spaces where we wait and simply exist.