the airport test

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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onto today’s topic: the airport test 🧑‍✈️ 

one of the best ways to learn about someone’s personality is their behaviour/demeanour when it comes to airports and catching flights.

on my way to the airport to fly home from tokyo last night, the most ridiculous thing ever happened to me. i was lugging my suitcase off the subway and as soon as i pulled it over to the walkway, it literally burst and my stuff went everywhere. 💀 fortunately, my suitcase was mostly just filled with trinkets and other boxes, so no risk of my clothes getting infected by dirty subway ground, but it was still mortifying.

i was mostly panicked that my suitcase was broken and that i’d have to scramble to find a (super expensive) replacement. aside from that panic, i just stared at my flung open suitcase with a deadpan look. 😐️ 

i was looking for cameras because no way this was real LMAO.

it sure was, but i just took a deep frustrated breath and repacked my suitcase off to the side.

later while i was waiting at the gate, i was thinking about how other people would deal with that situation and just general airport mishaps (y’all know i have plenty of those …).

the airport seems to put people’s stress on full blast. with the impending doom of a missed flight looming over you until you reach the gate, it’s a fair stress to have — flights aren’t cheap. it’s interesting to see different archetypes of people at the airport. you have the airport dads that arrive 6 hours early for no reason, and those that pull up 45 minutes before boarding. not only that, you learn a lot more about a person at the airport.

how does someone occupy themself on the flight? do they stock up on snacks? how do they pack? how early did they come to the airport? is the boarding pass printed or a code on their phone? 🤳 

each of these questions lead back to a pretty accurate inference about someone’s personality. since the airport is such a high-stakes environment for most people, we don’t really mask our character much. it was pretty jarring seeing so many people be blatantly rude to airport staff when i touched down in dallas for my layover, especially after immersing myself in the non-confrontational culture in japan for 2 months.

i love the airport, it feels like i’m in my element for some reason. maybe it’s an eldest daughter traveling solo thing. 😋 

how would you characterize your airport self?

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