Airports

Airports. It’s a love/hate relationship, really. They’re convenient if you want to go somewhere far away, such as Europe. It sure as hell beats taking a boat. But at the same time, they are equally annoying. Lots of people, delayed flights, overpriced food, and kitschy items out the wazoo. We go to airports because we need to, not because we want to hang out there. (Well, maybe you do, but that’s just not right). Right now I’m sitting in the Columbus airport* waiting to hop on my flight to Newark, but the plane is delayed (surprise, surprise). Sitting at the gate, I soon realize that I have a low tolerance for people at the airport – the staff, the passengers, even sometimes my own family. Everyone is just there, sitting, waiting, watching, talking really loudly. I can’t escape it (for the time being at least), so I’ll just have to cope.

*The name of the airport is Port Columbus International Airport and I’m pretty sure the only international flight is to Toronto. And maybe a second Canadian city… that’s about it. Columbus probably just wants to feel like a big city with that “International” tacked on there.

I’ve come to realize that I would much rather prefer dealing with bigger airports than small. And when I say deal with bigger airports, I mean deal with the people there. At larger airports (O’Hare for example), I feel like people tend to just want to get on the plane, not dealing with what people have to say; they just want to fly away. People in larger airports have an agenda the need to and they wont waste the energy bringing up irrelevant conversations. Yes, larger airports are busier and more crowded, but I can handle that. I mean, I do go to a school with 55,000+ people. I can handle crowds.

But smaller airports, I don’t know, passengers are so much… friendlier. Maybe it’s because I’m flying out of the Midwest and people here are nice in general, but I’m standing in the damn security line for 5 minutes and someone starts to talk to me.

Man: “So, where are you flying to?”

Me: “Newark.”

Man: “Me too. I hope this line doesn’t take to long.”

Me: “Yeah.”

Okay, that conversation was fine. It was the conversation that was going on behind me that really irked me. This guy, who wasn’t even in line for security, he was waiting to see his party through, was talking to the man behind me about how long the line was and the logic between picking lines. 15 solid minutes about this. That kind of set me over. Why do you have to be so friendly, random man? Why? I just want to board the plane as relaxed as possible (Ha! I’m going through airport security). It was one long and obnoxious conversation I hope not to repeat.

I guess annoying people annoy me, but I feel like they are more prominent in smaller airports because they just stand out more. Hopefully I will make it to Newark only slightly annoyed. Eh, the chances are slim.

So it turns out my flight is on time! Yay! Well, kind of. I would consider 30 minutes delayed on time (for flying to Newark that is). But some girl just walked by in an OP shirt and bag and it just made me think of when I played for this way back in the 5^th and 6^th grade. Oh the memories. And also, there are flights from Columbus to Cleveland? That seems a little unnecessary.

Okay, I'm boarding. Goodbye Columbus (for the weekend, that is.)