Airport to Airport

30 January 2018

I raise my backpack filled with tech above the counter, and the attendant nods, "Okay, that's fine." I breathe a sigh of relief because it's something like 35 bucks to pay for a larger carryon. I watch as my gigantic pack floats away on the conveyor belt. The Newark terminal is a lot smaller than the other airports I've seen in the last couple days. The security theater is not nearly as elaborate as in JFK, and I walk a ridiculously short way to the terminal. I am about three hours early so I pull out my computer and start surfing away.

I can't help but watch the people that sit near me, as I switch from playing video games to doing french lesson on the computer. There's a youngish caucasion guy pacing back and forth. He is wearing colored fabrics similar to very eastern garb, and speaks into his phone, recording musings about inner depths of worldly meaning. There are a couple asian girls chatting with each other, a conversation of trivialities, quite the opposite of the young man who's looking to find himself. There are a group of hacidic jews who bob a pray with books, their talit and locks swaying with the motion.

As we form the queue to board the plane, a red faced man grumbles, "Do they even speak english nicely?" And thus begins another plane trip.

This flight doesn't have any beverage service, nor snacks of any kind, except for that which you pay for, however they don't accept cash so I settle in with my audio dramas and peanuts. I try to hold a conversation with the person next to me, but it's a very curt Asian lady who completely ignores me. In fact I notice that there is really no one on the plane talking to one another. Everyone is just staring at their devices and ignoring those around them.

From what I can tell, she is married, and she works for a law firm. About half way through the flight she pulls out a slim laptop and the clacking of her fingers is barely audible above the engine noise. The hours drag on, I try to sleep but can't, try to pay attention to my tablet, but can't, there is just too much to think about. So, for the hours I sit and contemplate the future.

1 Feb 2018

The plane is a taxied to a few hundred feet away from the Icelandic terminal. We bundle up tightly and I chat for a few minutes with a guy from the seats across from mine, he also had an uncommunicative Asian woman as his flight companion. Adav is headed toward Tel Aviv, and that's all I get to know about him as we split down separate concourses. The terminal has sheets of colored glass separating the different gates. When I arrive at my gate, I catch a glimpse of Adav through the orange traluscent plastic. I wave, but I don't think he sees me.

The security theater to enter the EU via Iceland involves waiting in a small line while a man in a booth gives you a look, asks a question, then stamps your passport. And you're through. When the lady checks my ticket, we all stand in a line that leads to a bus which drives us out to where the plane is parked. It's cold, and the lady in front of me stumbles up the stairs for her shivering. Noticing the book she is clutching I shout my appreciation for Margaret Atwood, she blinks at me and smiles shyly and doesn't say a single word to me.

I greet my plane companion who promptly falls asleep, and stay sleeping until we land. I do my best to follow suit, but I just can't. I settle into my pillow, blast some soothing music through my headset and tie my bandana around my eyes, but unfortunately sleep does not come. And again we are landing.

The Brussels airport is vast and shiny. Everything is excessively expensive and the varied amount of sounds that people make from their mouths is a very disorientating. The luggage carousel is at least familiar, and several thousands miles away from home, my huge brown pack slides into view. I mumble an 'excuse me' to the person and snag my sack.

I plod through the airport and all of a sudden I'm outside, I didn't expect not to go through another sort of security, but just like that I'm outside in a drizzling rain. I purchase a day pass from the machine, which is a stupid process that involves me going back inside to the money exchange and trying to convince them to give me more coins and then I am headed toward a last minute hostel that I decided to stay at, so that I can get my bearings.