People at the airport
So today I spend a lot of time at the airport waiting for my plane to take off. It occurred to me that there are certain types of people at airports. So, naturally, I started a little ethnographic study to classify people moving around an international airport. Let’s get started.
Type 1: The runners
So even though everyone knows you should be at the airport early, late trains or other circumstances force people to be late. But there are a lot of people who are late. They run from gate to gate, needing more time, sometimes shouting at their children to come along. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there. I once got my departure time completely wrong and was told over the loudspeaker to come straight to my gate. Of course, my gate was on the other side of the airport. So I ran…
Type 2: The Vloggers
Damn, I feel old. I hadn’t realised that this was really something that people didn’t mind doing. In the two hours I was here I saw four of them, usually with some friends telling them how cool or beautiful they were and holding a smartphone with a very bright light. Some of them were dancing, some of them were talking. And they did it in all languages, not just German or English.
Type 3: The party group
It doesn’t matter what time it is, somewhere it’s after four. So there are always groups of either just men or just women, drinking to get somewhere, probably to drink some more. I regularly see them on trains, but I had no idea they were also on planes. I am still waiting for my plane, but I sincerely hope they have another destination.
Type 4: Businessmen
I mean, it is expected. But what I find fascinating about them is that no matter what nationality they are, they all look the same. I expect there are a lot more of them in the business lounge, but I can’t check. Anyway, they are the experienced type. They know where to go, when to be there and how to look like they don’t care if they’re flying around the world these days.
Type 5: Holiday-goers
You can usually spot them because they are already wearing what they are going to wear on the beach. It doesn’t matter how cold it is here, they are prepared for THAT. They are usually quite happy as they are on their way to a good time. However, I saw one thing today that made me question human intelligence: one of the holidaymakers was holding an air mattress in the shape of a crab. Fully inflated…
Addendum: Mice!
I also noticed something strange: There were a lot of mice in the airport (at least in Frankfurt)! I mean, an airport with all its shiny and slippery floors doesn’t seem like a good place for mice, but I saw at least three individual mice in the airport. Weird, isn’t it?
