Observing Your Surrounds // Airports

Coming to you from the sky...

All of the people, there is so many people. They are moving everywhere – wandering aimlessly, waiting patiently and standing still. All around is chaos – delayed flights, crying infants, lovebirds making out at departure gates, tears of happiness because someone’s daughter has arrived home after one year and the occasional French backpacker. It’s all chaos, but there is simplicity about this chaos. Thousands, if not millions of people in one place at a time from all around the world, a person from every continent, every country and even every city. They are all here for the same reason. They want to get somewhere. Whether that somewhere is home, a holiday, business trip or calling a new place home; they are all trying to get to their destination. 

The simplicity of this is the emotions. The airport sees more emotion than any other location in the world. It witnesses everything from tears, love, heartbreak and anxiety to wanderlust, determination and anger. It even witnesses those lost individuals travelling on their own from Sweden that have no clue which direction they are going in. The airport sees more love than weddings, sees more heartbreak than funerals and sees more chaos than a murder scene. It is the unique atmosphere that is exposed to every single individual that is there. If I must estimate on my own observations, two thirds of people that are in the airport are blind to what surrounds them. Some want to get where they are going, some have families eager to get to their holiday destination and some are travelling on their own to explore the world. 

What the people in the airport are unaware of is that they are apart of that simplicity of the chaos. Every single individual makes up this unique atmosphere, even if they are blind to it. 

This is why I absolutely adore airports. They intrigue me for this very reason. Being in the location of so many different types of people. The different emotions. The different destinations. The different stories. 

I am an observer. Ask anyone who knew me as a baby or young child, I am content with sitting to myself watching the passing parade and taking in my surrounds. It fascinates me to this day how much time passes after I find myself sitting somewhere looking all around me. Maybe this is the reason for my infatuation with airports. An airport to people like me is like a toy shop to a four-year-old. To some, ‘observing others and surrounds’ may seem boring or somewhat ‘creepy’, but this is what you’re missing out on because you are staring at your phone scrolling through Instagram. Sounds cheesy? Look up from your phone more often and take in your surrounds. You’ll be surprised with the thoughts and observations you come up with.