My Husband and I just booked flights this week to head back to the USA to visit my family for Thanksgiving. In the process of booking our flights we considered how we wanted to travel, what airline to go with so on and so forth. It is easy to quickly get bogged down with all the laborious details and while getting to the destination is exciting, the thought of being jam packed in metal tube for “x” amount of hours or having excruciating layover times is never a relished thought. In fact, travel has over the years been bogged down with so many negative stereotypes that if you stop to think about them all you just might change your mind all together about your trip.
Despite mixed up flights, lost baggage, turbulence, bumpy landings and expensive airport food there is a silver lining. All over the world strange and fascinating attractions have been added to airports to try and make the travelers experience much more pleasant.
On the ground level of Amsterdam Airport Schipol, a free museum, Rijksmuseum, can be found. Here travelers can kill a few hours by wandering around and admiring the works of Jan Steen, Jacob van Ruisdael, and other Dutch painters. Here you may find many other items that are on loan to the museum from all around Amsterdam. Annexed to the museum visitors will find a small shop where they can buy specialty gifts crafted in relation to the museum.
If history and art is not your thing then maybe you will be more attracted to the aquarium at Vancouver International airport. The aquarium is located on levels 3 and 4 and boasts a variety of brilliantly colored sea life. Amongst the variety of displays the aquarium exhibits a 30,000 gallon tank with over 850 different marine plants and animals.
If museums and aquariums are not high tech enough to keep you entertained, then you might want to visit Hong Kong International Airport. Here if travelers wander over to level 6 of the Terminal 2 they can buy themselves a ticket to a 4D cinematic experience. The theater is equipped with 360 seats and the largest 4D screen in Asia. The room is prepared with wind, fog, water spray, and bubbles and other scenery attractions to make your experience as life like as possible. And in case you were worried, you wont find any cheesy just for 4D films here either; the Theater shows Hollywood blockbusters such as the Transformers movies.
All over the world strange and interesting attractions can be found. Some may enjoy the Playstation 3 console stations found in Charles de Gaulle International Airport Terminals 1 and 2 in Paris; and some may enjoy the less attractive but practical airport dentistry at Siao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport Terminal 2, HC Clinica Odontológica. If you are not fortunate enough to be stuck in airport with such attractive entertainment, then maybe you will be heading to one of the many airports with adrenaline pumping descents.
An additionally thrilling landing for passengers is on the famous Antarctic ice Runway. Landings on this runway are so tricky that only certain aircraft are allowed to attempt the landings. But even with the right aircraft landing is Antarctica is like playing Russian roulette. Planes that are too heavy can break the ice and others may get caught and sink in the snow!
While not as adrenaline pumping, Gibraltar Airport provides passengers with a somewhat comedic landing. Gibraltar is a small piece of land nestled between Spain and the Mediterranean and does not have much room for a runway. The only solution, intersect the runway with a main road. Seems like a good solution to me! As passengers land, the motor traffic comes to a halt, the aircraft landing on a runway strip that crosses the road and then taxiing over to the airport terminal.
If it is not in the entertainment or the landing, many airports have rather comical and usual names and IATA codes to make passengers smile.
Some are ridiculous…..
- Useless Loop Airport, Australia
- Black Tickle Airport, Canada
- Beaver Creek Airport, Canada
- Moron Airport, Spain
- Ogle Airport, Guyana
- Eek Airport, USA
- Pickle Lake Airport, Canada
- Deadhorse Airport, USA
Some a bit daunting…
- Mafia Airport, Tanzania
- Slave Lake Airport, Canada
- Asbestos Hill Airport, Canada
- Desolation Sound Airport, Canada
- Crooked Island Airport, Canada
- Deception Airport, Canada
- Battle Mountain Airport, USA
- Rifle Airport, USA
- Danger Bay Airport, USA
And some that you may have to look at the codes to appreciate….
- BOG – Bogotá Airport, Columbia
- BUM – Butler Airport, USA
- PEE – Perm Airport, Russia
- POO – Pocos De Caldas Airport, Brazil
- SEX – Sembach Airport, Germany
- FAT – Fresno Yosemite Airport, USA
Next time you find your self laid over in some strange airport, or are planning your next trip, you just don’t know, the once dreaded airport might be one of the best parts of your holiday.
"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
~St. Augustine
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Sources:
The Independent.co.uk
Travlelesure.com
Gotravle24.com
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