Airports!

Since young I've always had this weird liking for airports (in Malaysia, I loved KLIA).

Before leaving high school, when I was still a prefect under the P.A. board, I had an odd dream to work as an announcer at KLIA (you know, the ones who make the announcements that say, 'Flight A123 to Hong Kong, please proceed to Gate 6..' or something along that line).

Met my dream man Kaka' at Guilin airport, China.

I felt that the job is a mixture of quite a few of my interests- public announcements, languages(announcements are done in several languages), uniforms(I like uniforms. The professional look), international(because there are people from many different places of the world), and most of all, it's the AIRPORT.

So what's with all the airport talk?

I came across a book while shopping at MPH book store last week. Its title immediately caught my attention so I bought it and I'm currently reading it. 

'A Week at the Airport: A Heathrow Diary' by Alain de Botton.

In the summer of 2009, Alain de Botton was invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever Writer-in-Residence. He was installed in the middle of Terminal 5 on a raised platform with a laptop connected to screens, enabling passengers to see what he was writing and to come and share their stories. He met travellers from around the world, and was given unprecedented access to wander the airport and speak with everyone from window cleaners and baggage handlers to air traffic controllers and cabin crew.

Book description(part of) on amazon.com

Due to my love for airports, I enjoyed every page and every sentence in the book. I loved de Botton's description of the little things we don't often notice in daily life. Also, while I was never really confident in my English writing, I felt that his writing had truly put me to shame. I liked how he makes the ordinary little things sound so interesting with his keen observation for little details and his knowledge in many different fields.

Hello Kitty themed corner at Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan.

I'd say it's worth a read. I might even begin to work on my travel book - FINALLY! After YEARS - once I finish de Botton's airport diary. 

Perhaps after this I'll try reading 'The Art of Travel'(also by de Botton) if I find it in the stores.