SFOh No...

Airports, I am told, used to bring out the best in people. There would be tears and hugs, laughter and joy, and general love in the air; no longer. No longer does this seem to be the case. This morning, in an act of last minute desperation to try and see a friend whose life seems in resent months to Chris-cross my own, I headed to see her off at the airport (an airport where, only two weeks ago I stepped on American soil again). San Francisco's Airport or SFO, today, was full of a bunch of grumps. No longer were there the hugs and smiles of the past. Now there is just rush and grumble. There are tears for reasons other than missing people, tears of stress and worry about making a flight, about having heavy luggage; about everything. People have flight times on the mind and carbon footprints. There is no longer the feel of camaraderie and excitement: "YAY! I'M GOING TO TO NEW YORK!" or other such comments. It is just a pool of worry.

For example: My friend, who is moving to NYC for three months, had one bag, one backpack, and a guitar. I was to meet her at the airport check-in line for her airline. When I saw her, she was crying. People had rushed past her, not let her on the BART train, there had been traffic, and she had been told that her luggage was to heavy and she would have to throw things out. She was stressed and tired and traveling was no longer exciting for her. This is wrong.

Traveling should be exciting. It is about having ADVENTURES and seeing new places (or old places with a new eye). Travel is about meeting people and experiencing new things. Travel is also magical. Airplanes soaring over the sky, ships lifting their sails to head off to strange lands, trains embarking on cross-continental journeys. THAT is what travel is supposed to be about.

Location: SFO Airport, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.