Walking around an airport

Walk off before take off

Mar 06, 2024

Living the travelling writer’s dream at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol library💚

Hello walkers and writers 👋🏻 How’re you all doing?

After a flurry of interviews – hat tip to Tracy Byrne, Sarah Middleton and Ian Finch – we’re back to our usual programme of going for a walk to find some writing inspiration.

Spring is about to leap, holiday companies are in full swing with their ads, so I’m jumping on the travel bandwagon with a walk around an airport.

Walking

I don’t fly much these days. But I’ve made 2 trips recently and as I crawled my way through the long queues at the security check-in and weaved my way through the duty free zone, I realised that I walk a lot when I’m at an airport.

Between the walk from the train to the security gates, the walk through the duty free chicane, and the lonnnggggg walk to the gate, my step count always goes through the roof.

I always feel a bit nervous when I fly – despite the fact that I’ve been flying solo around the world since I was 9, so I know the drill well. I love flying, but I hate being cooped up inside a small tin box for several hours. And airports can feel crowded, noisy, overwhelming and chaotic, adding to any anxiety I might be feeling. So I’ve developed some techniques to help calm my thoughts before a flight. Walking is good for this because the exercise helps to release the endorphins that reduce stress and anxiety, and getting some movement in before sitting for several hours is also helpful physically as well as mentally.

I also have a few airport rituals. They’re mostly little things I do every time I fly to help pass the time and turn my nervousness into excitement. Like treating my senses with a visit to the perfume counter:

Or donning my copywriter’s hat and checking out the ads:

Punctuation and formatting that’s here, there ********&******** every where

I play the what3words game:

Toxic Pill Spice at London Gatwick Airport’s bins

I go in search of water – which at some airports is harder to find than you might expect:

And I get a thrill from the sound of my cabin case wheels on the moving walkway:

Most airports are just gigantic waiting rooms. I walk to calm my nerves, make the wait more interesting and to help make the time until I get on the plane feel a bit more enjoyable.

Airport code naming facts: the 3-letter codes used to identify many airports around the world are assigned by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and are called IATA airport codes. The ‘general’ naming convention is that the airport code is the first 3 letters of the city where the airport’s located (BER for Berlin) or a combination of the letters that make up the name (JNB for Johannesburg). But there are variations to this convention, too. The US Navy has reserved codes starting with ‘N’, so airport names that start with ‘N’ have to have a different code, like Newark airport, which is EWR.
And OMG, there are, like, some fun codes, too. You can fly to and from LOL (Derby Field Airport, Nevada), OMG (Omega Airport, Namibia) and YUM (Yuma, Alaska). And if that doesn’t trigger a smile, you can try jetting off to POO (Poco de Caldas Airport, Brazil) or SUX (Sioux City, Iowa).

So the next time you’re jetting off, stretch your legs with a walk around the airport before squeezing them into the tiny legroom on the plane.

Writing

When I’m on a plane I always read the inflight magazine and safety instructions. Call it an occupational hazard of being a copywriter, but whenever I see something with words on it, I Must. Read. It.

Pun times in the Vueling airlines in-flight mag

So for the writing this time, we’re going to stick to the pun theme and join the Mile-high Writers Club1. Because what better place to do some writing than 35,000 miles up in the air, with your phone in flight mode, so you have no distractions? (Other than people snoring, babies crying and the drinks trolley wheels squeaking, obvs.)

Here are 2 writing prompts to try:

Combine your airport walk with the what3words writing prompt
When you find something interesting at the airport use the what3words app to find out the 3 words for its location and use them as your prompt.
Rewrite the safety instructions card
This is one for all the copywriters out there. Are the safety instructions clear? Could you make them clearer or easier to read? Could you make them more fun? Could you turn them into a cartoon by changing the captions that go with the diagrams? There’s lots to play with here, I think.

As always, please share your thoughts on the walking idea and prompts by adding a comment to this post. I love hearing where your walks and writing take you.

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