My Top Ten Airports

You may have heard a rumor somewhere that I travel a lot. It's true.

Last week I traveled home for my friend Amanda's wedding. I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids (she's also one of mine!), and thrilled to join so many friends in celebrating her and her husband. It was a beautiful weekend and everyone had a great time. Yay Amanda and Mike! Congratulations!

My flight home included a layover at a new airport for me, Memphis-- my 25th airport that I can remember passing through. Small and quiet, I was actually won over by the coat rack in the bathroom. I had been carrying my bridesmaid gown with my arm stretched above my head all day, trying to prevent wrinkles and/or complete destruction. It was so nice to hang it up for a brief moment. But it was really pleasantly peaceful, especially compared to my layover in Atlanta a month before, which was UTTER MAYHEM SPRINTING ACROSS AN ENORMOUS AIRPORT THAT SEEMS TO HAVE AN ENDLESS SUPPLY OF STAIRS.

So, needless to say, Atlanta is not on my top ten list. But Memphis easily is. My (current) definitive top ten airports list:

10. tie between JFK and Laguardia: What points they lose for being complete and utter pains in the ass to drive to, they make up for with their proximity to New Jersey and easy access to roughly everywhere in the world. I have flown to some pretty cool places (Malawi, Seattle) from each of these, and I have also picked up some awesome visitors from each. I hate the traffic but enjoy the people and places I associate with each of them.
9. Cancun: I flew to Mexico for my Masters field work just weeks after swine flu broke out, with eastern Mexico as its epicenter. I was really impressed with these fancy pants thermometers that just had to be held next to people's foreheads to prove them healthy and pass us through customs. It was also no small miracle that I made it through ticketing, check-in and security with no knowledge of the Spanish language beyond my then-impressive forestry and food vocabularies. I was pretty tired, but I'm relatively certain that's a well-signed airport with a helpful staff.
8. George Best Belfast City Airport: This was the first time I disembarked and boarded planes from the tarmac on a staircase, which I thought was really cool. Also, I had my first Guinness here. Also, it marked the beginning and end of a pretty wonderful adventure with a dear friend of mine.
7. McCarran (Las Vegas): While totally overwhelming, I found the airport to be a pretty good representation of the city it's in. I don't generally believe that layovers count for having been to a place, but this one is legit enough to me. I mean, you pretty much fly down The Strip when coming in for a landing.
6. Atlantic City: This was the first airport I ever flew out of. I almost never go here, but I love that drive down the Parkway, through the Pine Barrens and wetlands, plus there's a Wawa right outside of the airport!
5. New Orleans: I like it. Small, navigable, and has one of the only Dunkin Donuts I've found in Louisiana.
4. Philadelphia: This one has gotten a lot of traffic from me lately. It's slightly more of a pain in the butt to get to and from Toms River, but it still counts as one of my major regional airports. Also, I get to sing I-76 or Philadelphia Freedom shamelessly during those to's and from's.
3. Memphis: I am really, really that grateful for the coat rack.
2. Blantyre, Malawi: Because of the different way of doing security, I was able to receive a most beautiful sendoff from a group of singing, cheering women I met in my first days in the country. (see here)
1. Newark: Well duh, it's in New Jersey. Maybe you don't get teary when you land after a while away, and you can see the skyline of Manhattan and the Elizabeth Seaport and the Meadowlands and know that you are already home in New Jersey without having to sit on an interstate for a while first. Well, maybe you don't have a soul.

Later this month I will be traveling to Washington, DC, flying into Reagan Airport. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.