Living at the Airport

There’s a big difference in living at the airport and living near one. My wife and I enjoyed years of proximity to Hartsfield International at Atlanta. The airport represented a regional economic engine that helped to grow the city into one of the key transportation and business hubs of America. The nature of airports, however, is to move passengers, not to accommodate them for extended periods. This past week across Europe, thousands of travelers have been stranded due to the unusual factor of volcanic eruptions in Iceland. Volcanic ash in large quantities and in clouds reaching high altitudes has a caustic effect on jet engines and has grounded flights across England and Northern Europe. A day or two might be unsettling, but the disruption has extended into more than a week of challenges for travelers, now cascading into backlogged airports around the globe.
We offer our condolences to those who have been making do without bathing facilities and regular meals. Airport food has often been less than affordable and accessible. The humorous movie some years ago that depicted a stranded traveler who found himself without a country to return to for an extended period gives insight into some of the options available to long term airport campers: check the phones for loose change; get a job with an airport contractor; make friends with the airport manager and security personnel; learn a new language. As the situation resolves over the next weeks and months, we assume more people will be taking boats, trains, and buses, but even those systems seem strained in light of the present load. One lesson for us all -- keep your destination in mind, but remember to live each day…right where you are. Consider the opportunities that such interruptions make possible and perhaps make some new friends, share some good news, and offer a helping hand. Every now and then it would do us all good to be stopped or slowed down long enough to evaluate the blessings of being at home, or while being away, to look forward to getting there.