The Lessons Learnt at the Airport
It may sound obvious that airport is a place to feel the excitement; it definitely is a place to be thrilled and start each one's travel. I surely do understand that the fact of being in the airport excites many people although the whole journey has not yet started. However, I tend to learn lessons of patience within me and the love and preciousness of my family when I go to the Incheon international airport.
I have been to the airport quite several times since the beginning of last year, and it was since then I first started to fly abroad by myself. However, there is a special reason for this- my family lives abroad. As I started my new school life in HUFS, I started to live apart from my parents and my little brother, and I became the one who flies over whenever I had breaks off from school. Consequently, it naturally led me to have some different feelings at the airport, compared to the feelings I used to have before, not being on my own when checking in, going through the securities, waiting for my flight to board and actually getting on the plane.
Now all the process I go through at the airport comes differently to me; I became very familiar and somewhat comfortable at the same time. As soon as the number of the check-in counter I need to get to is checked on the screen with full of flight numbers and departing times, I head to the counter straight away, trying to be faster than any other people. Waiting in line is always the worst part of the airport, but always the unavoidable part; almost everyone stares into their smartphones while in line or talk to their fellows from time to time. Each customer is called from the counter one by one and flight attendants sorting out the long line can be easily seen in the counters where the flight's boarding time is not too far away. Every now and then, echoing of announcements filling up the airport can be heard, airlines trying to find their customers who have not boarded yet. However, the announcement is never heard clearly because there are just too many people talking in the area and such high ceiling of the airport makes it worse. As I check in my bags and get my seat confirmed, I am then informed of the gate number and boarding time that I have to remember to get on the plane from the check-in counter.
The next thing I rush for is the security line that I cannot avoid, where I get my carry-on bags checked. Another series of lines have to be confronted and most people, definitely including myself, get exhausted of waiting in lines by that time. A long endless line of people once again has their head down to their smartphones trying to overcome the boredom of waiting, feeling like the line never gets short. There are always a team or two with some people saying their last minute goodbyes in the line and repeating to tell the ones leaving to call when they get to the destination. Finally getting through the security check makes me sigh of relief, feeling glad to be out in the duty free area just on time.
Once I step out of the glass doors of security check area, I see bright endless duty free shops that are stretched out from one far end to the other far end. People are all jumbled up in the duty free area, making their own ways to get to their gates while peeking into some shops on the way. I usually have things to pick up that I order from online duty free shops, so I head straight upstairs to the pick-up area and wait in line, yet again. That is when I learn another lesson of patience getting into a new line after waiting in endlessly stretched lines in the past hour.
Airport is a place that requires a lot of walking as well, as there are so many gates in Incheon international airport. That is probably why there are always people on every moving walk on the way to gates. There are some coffee shops and some stores that sell snacks; doughnut places are always the most pleasure to pass by, with the smell of sugary savory doughnuts tickling my nose. I can never pass doughnut places not buying one and it is the best snack that I could have to treat myself from all the patience I gained in such long lines.
As I get towards gates and the busy chaos of duty free shops full of people are slowly drifted away, I then hear announcements of other flights being called for boarding. Once I find my gate, I would then find a chair to sit down and relax for a while for the first time since I had arrived at the airport. I call my mom and let her know that I have finally got to the gate after such chaotic reckless lines that I had to wait in.
Nevertheless, of all the patience I gain in the airport, it is important for me because it is the last place I feel lonely to be alone in the country. Airport really allows me to anticipate for meeting my family again, and really take some time to long for them as I spend so much time standing in line having not much to do. I imagine myself over and over sitting down at the dinner table eating delicious home food that my mom made, and it is one of the best scenes that I can picture in my head, forgetting about all the stress that I would get from other things in my everyday life.
The Lessons Learnt at the Airport (Final Draft)
ReplyDelete201503676 Hong Chae-ryoung
It may sound obvious that airport is a place to feel the excitement; it is a place to be thrilled and start each one’s travel. I surely do understand that only the fact of being in the airport excites many people although the whole journey has not yet started. However, I tend to learn lessons of patience within me as well as the love and preciousness of my family at the same time whenever I go to the Incheon international airport.
I have been to the airport quite several times since the beginning of last year, and it was since then I first started to fly abroad by myself. In fact, there is a special reason for this- my family lives abroad. As I started my new school life in HUFS, I started to live apart from my parents and my little brother, and I became the one who gets one the airplane whenever I had breaks off from school. Consequently, it naturally led me to have some different feelings at the airport, compared to the feelings I used to have before, not being on my own when checking in, going through the securities, waiting for my flight to board and getting on the plane.
Now I come to think of it, all the process I go through at the airport feels different when I go there by myself; I became very familiar and somewhat comfortable at the same time. As soon as the number of the check-in counter is checked on the screen, with full of flight numbers and departing times, I would head to the counter straight away, trying to be faster than any other people. Waiting in line is always the worst part of the airport, but always the unavoidable part; almost everyone stares into their smartphones while in line or talk to their fellows from time to time. Each customer is called from the counter one by one and flight attendants sorting out the long line can be easily seen in the counters where the flight’s boarding time is not too far away. Every now and then, echoing of announcements filling up the airport can be heard, airlines trying to find their customers who have not boarded yet. However, the announcement is never heard clearly because there are just too many people talking in the area and such high ceiling of the airport makes it worse. As I check in my bags and get my seat confirmed, I am then informed of the gate number and boarding time that I should remember to get on the plane from the check-in counter.
The next thing I rush for is the security line, which I cannot avoid either, and usually the least favorite part, where I get my carry-on bags checked. Another series of lines are confronted and most people, definitely including myself, get exhausted of waiting in lines by that time. A long endless line of people once again has their head down to their smartphones trying to overcome the boredom of waiting, feeling like the line never gets short, especially when I am on my own and I have no one else to chat with. There are always a team or two with some people saying their last-minute goodbyes in the line and repeating to tell the ones leaving to call when they get to the destination. Finally getting through the security check makes me sigh of relief, feeling glad to be out in the duty-free area just on time.
Once I step out of the glass doors of security check area, I see bright endless duty free shops that are stretched out from one far end to the other far end. People are all jumbled up in the duty-free area, making their own ways to get to their gates while peeking into some shops on the way. I usually have things to pick up that I order from online duty free shops, so I head straight upstairs to the pick-up area and wait in line, yet again. That is when I learn another lesson of patience getting into a new line after waiting in endlessly stretched lines in the past hour.
ReplyDeleteAirport is a place that requires a lot of walking as well, as there are so many gates in Incheon international airport. That is probably why there are always people on every moving walk on the way to gates. There are some coffee shops and some stores that sell snacks; doughnut places are always the most pleasure to pass by, with the smell of sugary sweet savory doughnuts tickling my nose. I can never pass doughnut places not buying one and it is the best snack that I could have to treat myself from all the patience I gained in such long lines.
As I get towards gates and the busy chaos of duty free shops full of people are slowly drifted away, I then hear announcements of other flights being called for boarding. Once I find my gate, I would then find a chair to sit down and relax for a while for the first time since I had arrived at the airport. I would call my mom and let her know that I have finally got to the gate after such chaotic reckless lines that I had to wait in.
Nevertheless, of all the patience I gain in the airport, it is important for me because it is the last place I feel the most loneliness to be alone in the country. Airport really allows me to anticipate for meeting my family again, and really take some time to long for them as I spend so much time standing in line having not much to do. I would imagine myself over and over sitting down at the dinner table eating delicious home food that my mom made, and it is one of the best scenes that I can picture in my head, forgetting about all the stress that I would get from other things in my everyday life.
201503676 Hong Chae-ryoung