Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, City
Airports: the video game you can day drink in
I find it difficult working with people who don’t like airports. Those for whom the terminal concourse is a banality to be endured or evil to be necessitated. These people have no hearth, no understanding of ritual or appreciation for interstitial spaces. Why even travel?
The closest comparator to the airport experience is the multi-level video game. Nothing fancy — no HDR graphics or adolescent power fantasies. More like Super Mario Land on the Nintendo Game Boy, with its little distractions, plentiful dining options and minor peril. And each level negotiated delivers a surge of serotonin.
It starts 24 hours before, with online check-in. Perhaps the single cleanest example of displacement activity on the web. Then the taxi that arrives bang on time (that is, ten minutes early). Extra marks if the driver confirms your airline and terminal.
