Today's the day! Flying out of Melbourne at 2. Very scary and very exciting. With all those millions of dollars lavished on airports all over the world, why do they still look like a Bunnings or Homebase warehouse?
And with the phalanx of architects and designers, why do they still look the same? Countless years in the planning and execution and it still looks like an aviary for pterodactyls. My flight to London via Dubai turned out to be a three leg flight via Kuala Lumpur and Dubai, and both airports are indistinguishable from each other.
The whole airport experience is destined to be stressful regardless of where you are going, how long your flight and your reason for travel. But today we live in a world, if not actually addicted to international travel, certainly dependent on the convenience and relative cheapness. We think nothing of hopping on a plane for a weekend away, or a business trip that takes us from London to Luxembourg, or Melbourne to Sydney in a day, and still be home in time for dinner.
But with all this travel, what do we experience of our destination? Food is often the only distinguishing feature of a country. In Italy we eat Italian food.
In France we eat French cuisine why did I just slip into French? But in countries with a cuisine that is less, how should I put this delicately, distinctive, we are willing to try anything different, just for the variety. So why do Australians travel so much, is it because we want something different to eat? Which takes me to airline food; what do airlines do with food??? I was offered an omelette that had the taste, colour and texture of foam rubber.
