The Best Airport

I realize this is totally subjective, and I've been in a lot of airports; all of them (or maybe most of them) have some great features. Our little airport here in Jacksonville is one of the easiest to navigate and has a charming middle section with a huge skylight and rocking chairs. Often there are musicians performing on a stage off to the side. It's sweet. But even though I've lived here long enough for Jacksonville to almost feel like home, no airport is better (in my view) than Dulles. It isn't just that I love the airport itself -- for reasons I'll get to in a minute -- but also whenever I am flying into Dulles and we begin our descent, the beauty of the countryside overwhelms me sometimes to the point of tears. This is really what home looks like to me.

When my oldest son was a little boy, we used to sit on an observation deck just above the tarmac and watch the planes take off and land. I think I've written about that before. It was, in retrospect, quite dangerous to be so close to the planes and the jet fuel, but we both survived. About ten years before that, when the airport had first opened, McDonald's ran a contest for kids to take a "mini-flight" around the D.C. area. My mom and I had gone to McDonald's, and I filled out an entry form for me and for my brother, who wasn't with us. In a twist of irony, my brother won and I didn't. However, I went to the airport and fortunately some kid didn't show up so I got to go too. It was my first time on a plane, and even though the flight lasted only about a half hour (as I recall), it was magical.

Years later, every time I flew home from Florida, I got misty-eyed -- as I mentioned -- every time we got close to the airport. I still do. The airport itself is beautiful, designed by Eero Saarinen. Even though the interior has changed and the terminals and fields have expanded, the front slanted windows look just as they did when the airport opened in (I think) 1962. One of my favorite features as the airport expanded was the "mobile lounges" that shuttled passengers from one terminal to another. I always heard people complain about how antiquated they were, but I thought they were fantastic. I knew that plans were underway to build a new form of transportation inside the airport, but I hadn't expected it to be so sudden. One time I was in the airport and took the "mobile lounge". The next time I went, I was directed to a basement area with an underground rail transport. That was several years ago, and every time I've been back since I've gotten lost trying to find my way around my "home" airport. It's very disorienting.

No matter how much Dulles changes, it will always be home, and not just my favorite airport but one of my favorite places to spend time.