Airport and I

When you are traveling to a different country for the first time, your expectations are limited to conclusions drawn from others narrated experiences. Ghosts and zombies pale in comparison when your plans go haywire in airports. From my experience, getting accepted to one of the best art schools in USA was way easier than reaching my destination in one piece!

Changing three different flights from my hometown Bangalore to Atlanta was exhausting with delayed flight schedules, extensive baggage examinations, frisky security inspections, scrutinous immigration assessments, and consequently travel stress. Checking in my baggage for one final flight, I let my guard down for a moment, inviting misery into my life.

Yanking the cabin suitcase from my side, the check in agent placed it on the conveyer belt, along with my other baggage. When I asked the agent to retrieve my untagged suitcase, she unsympathetically gave me false hope that I would find my whole baggage at the next airport. Unaware of the airport regulations, I looked for my tiny suitcase as soon as I landed. When my worst fears came true, I approached a preoccupied CS agent who offered little to no help, except for a phone number as a consolation.

The next two days, when my multiple phone calls fell on deaf ears, I contacted a different CS agent in the airport. I explained my lost suitcase contained my transcripts, travel documents, among others, that were crucial to my admission process. While he proactively walked me through the right procedure, I prepared for the worst without unpacking, to go home. In 2006, receiving the duplicates of my lost documents was enormously time consuming whilst India was slowly transitioning from paper to digital.

Despite obtaining my suitcase in a couple of days, my anxiety never subsided, so much so to the extent that I refused to visit my family next summer. While graduation soon approached with an imminent recession thwarting my chances at internship in a US firm, I desperately looked for an alternative to avoid flying home.

Coincidentally, my professor made an announcement on thesis topic; a place requiring better human experiences. When I pitched in about airports needing improvement, my professor who travelled frequently, accepted instantly. Just like that, my peers, followed by my other teachers, became willing participants for my research.

One student, while narrating her worst experience, said she spent a week at Amsterdam airport at the middle of a snowstorm with the bare necessities, too broke to even afford for coffee. Despite unpleasant airport experiences, undeterred, she wanted to travel around the world.

As my presentation day approached, I came to the realization that I was in battle with an inanimate structure that tried to press a pause button on my aspirations. To conquer my anxiety that stemmed from apprehension towards the airport, I booked a ticket home to surprise my family and friends.