An Ode to the Airport

After 3 months of going overland around Europe mostly by hitchhiking, but also with buses, trains and rideshares, travelling by airplane felt like an alien experience.

It may be challenging, but it's my preferred way to travel

Being in the airport felt not too different from being in a mega mall: a fantasy world of shopping and entertainment, housed in a spotless monument of angled steel and towering glass. Getting to my plane was quite an absurd challenge, walking through mazes of tunnels, shuttles and escalators, and passing a circus of security checks and people in funny uniforms scanning you and asking you for a piece of paper proving your identity.

At times I became disoriented, lost to civilization, the further I wandered into the depths of this underground city out of science fiction. Occasionally I got to look outside, but not to touch it or smell it. There were no windows that could be opened or rolled down, not even from the airplane, lest I suck everything out of the cabin.

Granted, the flight got me from point A to point B much faster than a hitchhike. But if I had the time I would much rather see the road before me, the country roll along, and civilization pass by instead of below, like ants.

Written from Zurich Airport. Released from Dublin