The Christianville Spirit: My Fascination of Airports

The Christianville Spirit

The Spirit that Sparks Your Heart

December 14, 2011- TCS # 278

The thing that I’m going to write on this week, is something I’ve wanted to write about for a while. As most of you know, I love to Travel and everything about Travel so this is no different. This is about what I’ll call “My Fascination of Airports”. Now, of course, it’s not only the airport itself which can be amazing in it’s own and that’s just many of the fascinations. But, the first Fascination is it’s connections, which airlines do and don’t fly there, and which to use for certain routes. All of this comes from reading countless of logs in the “Airlines and Destinations” section of a Wikipedia article about airports that I’m interested in. Now, the route’s that I love are the many airlines and routes to Oslo-Gardermoen Airport (considering how much I love Norway) and two months ago, the fact of Air France flying from Paris-Charles de Gaulle to Cancun, Mexico. Anyway, on the Oslo front, I could tell you the 4 ways to get from Dallas to Oslo. They are as follows..

• British Airways: Dallas to London-Heathrow, London to Oslo
• Continental Airlines: Dallas to Newark-Liberty and Newark-Liberty to Oslo
• Air France: Dallas-Atlanta, Atlanta-Paris, Paris-Oslo

So, if you ever want to fly that route, now you know how. Now, when reading the connections of the airport and figuring out different ways to get somewhere, I have phrases for how many connections you have to make to get to your destination. Of Course, we all know that, “Direct Connection” which is easy as pie (which I learned in my figurative language class) but, for example with flying from Dallas to Oslo, there’s usually more than one connection. For one connection, I use the phrase, “One-fer” like the Continental route is “one-fer” because you just have to connect in Newark. The phase I use is for two connections is “two-fer”. An example of that would be Air France or Air Canada flying Dallas to Toronto-Pearson, to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, and finally to Oslo. After, “Two-fer” is “three-fer” but, I try not to exceed a “two-fer”, because that’s too long of a trip just to get somewhere. I’m sure, you can tell that I know a lot of the names of the airports which also fascinate me because it tells you about the culture and language of the city or country. Now, I can also tell you the names of the major airports in Europe except for Amsterdam’s which I would rather call, “Amsterdam Airport”. The ones I can tell you are London-Heathrow, Rome-Fiumicino(I call it, Roma-Fiumicino because I like to say, “Rome” in Italian), Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Oslo-Gardermoen, and Stockholm-Arlanda. Of Course, driving on Google Maps Street View to Airports is fascinating to because not only do you get to see the entry signs but, you also get to learn the layout of the Airport and act as if you’re going on a real trip. I think the most fascinating airport is Paris- Charles de Gaulle because of how large and big Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport is. It’s because they have 3 Terminals with Terminal 1 being a work of art and Terminal 2...well, good luck finding where your flight is, because Terminal 2 has separate terminal buildings that are all connected that go from 2A to 2F. Terminal 2G is the only one that doesn’t connect with it’s other sisters of Terminal 2. In fact, in Wikipedia, I read that you have to ride a bus to the other sisters of Terminal 2. So, I’m sure Paris-CDG as they call in shorthand is very confusing but, it is by far, fascinating. Of Course, if you want to see the airport of your dreams, according to Anthony Bourdain, check out Singapore Airport because it has a pool, movies, a media room to watch TV, a spa, and much more. In Fact, Anthony Bourdain says that, “Singapore Airport is worth getting there a couple hours early for.” So, as you can see, Airports are more than just a place that planes fly into and people walk through to get to their destinations. All in all, all Airports are fascinating is one way or another, you just to have to look.

Thanks for Reading The Christianville Spirit. Airports are about Connections, Get Connected!