My First Time at Heathrow
Before my first time in an aeroplane I knew very little about airport terminals.
I knew that they were quite unlike anywhere else, with their own rules and operations.
I'd watched The Terminal, and read a bit about the man on which it was based: Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who made Terminal 1 of The Charles De Gaulle Airport, in Paris, his home from 1988 to 2006.
And I knew they were not known for being relaxing places to reside for several hours before your holiday.
Although Nasseri's story is astounding, Heathrow's similarities to a small city does go some way to explain how a person may not be so eager to leave.
After making use of the airport parking, the first thing I notice is the sheer size of the place - 12.
5km square to be precise - which takes in five terminals but just two runways.
At this stage, a fellow traveller informs me of the widely opposed expansion to Heathrow Airport.
'Londoners don't want it,' he says, 'because of noise, and economists think it's pointless because by the time it's built, oil will be on the decline anyway, I don't mind though, it'll happen.
' We have a long time to fill and so I try to discover some more facts about my surroundings.
In the mightily impressive Terminal 5 building, I grab a bite from Carluccios and go in search of one of the many multi-faith prayer rooms - simply to assuage my curiosity as opposed to any religious motive.
The place is a welcome area of peace from the bustle going on outside, but I leave before I get too comfortable.
There is a danger that I could fall asleep in the corner and miss my flight.
But how could someone live in a place like this? The frequent multilingual chatter and interruptions from tannoy announcements do little else but remind you of places beyond here.
In fact, Nasseri is by no means the only person to have lived in an airport terminal.
Recently, Anthony Delaney was jailed for sleeping in Gatwick airport since 2004.
He defied an anti-social behavioural order and was frequently caught stealing CDs and baggage.
And in Palma airport too, a woman named Bettina was known to have lived there for 10 years with her cat Mumu.
I queue and queue again, and before long I want to stand outside.
I want to feel a temperature on my skin that isn't regulated.
I want to hear something other than that ding dong ding aria that precedes each information call.
I'm disappointed in myself, it's taken less than three hours for me to get bored of waiting.
And even the strict-security-influenced implication that I may be carrying something harmful ceases to excite me anymore.
I knew that they were quite unlike anywhere else, with their own rules and operations.
I'd watched The Terminal, and read a bit about the man on which it was based: Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who made Terminal 1 of The Charles De Gaulle Airport, in Paris, his home from 1988 to 2006.
And I knew they were not known for being relaxing places to reside for several hours before your holiday.
Although Nasseri's story is astounding, Heathrow's similarities to a small city does go some way to explain how a person may not be so eager to leave.
After making use of the airport parking, the first thing I notice is the sheer size of the place - 12.
5km square to be precise - which takes in five terminals but just two runways.
At this stage, a fellow traveller informs me of the widely opposed expansion to Heathrow Airport.
'Londoners don't want it,' he says, 'because of noise, and economists think it's pointless because by the time it's built, oil will be on the decline anyway, I don't mind though, it'll happen.
' We have a long time to fill and so I try to discover some more facts about my surroundings.
In the mightily impressive Terminal 5 building, I grab a bite from Carluccios and go in search of one of the many multi-faith prayer rooms - simply to assuage my curiosity as opposed to any religious motive.
The place is a welcome area of peace from the bustle going on outside, but I leave before I get too comfortable.
There is a danger that I could fall asleep in the corner and miss my flight.
But how could someone live in a place like this? The frequent multilingual chatter and interruptions from tannoy announcements do little else but remind you of places beyond here.
In fact, Nasseri is by no means the only person to have lived in an airport terminal.
Recently, Anthony Delaney was jailed for sleeping in Gatwick airport since 2004.
He defied an anti-social behavioural order and was frequently caught stealing CDs and baggage.
And in Palma airport too, a woman named Bettina was known to have lived there for 10 years with her cat Mumu.
I queue and queue again, and before long I want to stand outside.
I want to feel a temperature on my skin that isn't regulated.
I want to hear something other than that ding dong ding aria that precedes each information call.
I'm disappointed in myself, it's taken less than three hours for me to get bored of waiting.
And even the strict-security-influenced implication that I may be carrying something harmful ceases to excite me anymore.
Source...