London Stansted Airport, England, UK • October 2016 • Length of Read: 1 Minute
Bag on, belt off, liquids in the clear plastic bag, and through the scanner you go. Anticipation rising. Nostalgia brewing of a place you still haven’t technically left yet. But airport lounges are all the same, aren’t they? Holding pens until you are released on the next adrenaline wave of adventure. Staring at the rolling departures board the world lights up in front of you: 15:10 to New York at gate 54; 15:30 to Tokyo at gate 12; the 16:00 to Amsterdam showing as delayed by 30 minutes whilst the 14:45 to Sydney taunts you with its final call for boarding. And you are off. As the mandatory safety briefing commences you stare out of the window at the ant-sized people below. You traverse countries, oceans, and continents. The only evidence being the jet trails that soon disperse and vanish.
Then you slow right down to a snail’s pace. Taking in the unfamiliar smells and cultural sounds. Trying your best to decipher the foreign tongue being spoken until you are stopped dead in your tracks. Mesmerised by the beauty of the smallest and most insignificant thing. People always try to see the beauty in things first. Blemishes and false hopes come later. Breathe. Take it in. You may not be here for long. But you are here now. And now is all we really have. You look behind. You look ahead. You realise that this won’t last forever. You are okay with that. Because this gives you the drive to keep going. To keep exploring. And with one more step forward you are on your way again. Further on up the road.