Airports

I lost track of which day this is, but it surely is a weekday. Although, it's a public holiday here in Germany. Something about Jesus going to heaven, or, if you are a guy who likes to drink in public, it's "Father's Day."

Not that I get to join any of the customary festivities; what's worse, I'm also missing Nagano conducting Wagners' Valkyrie in my city.

All that because I'm once again sitting in an airport omw to a conference.

I used to find airports exciting. Now, I'm just trying to avoid them as much as possible.

Last year, I flew too much, and I came to dislike them. That's a very first-world problem.

I know.

In Peter Bichsels' book about boredom, the first short story concerns airports. He opens by finding them rather dull, and despite not having any concrete improvement suggestions, he thinks that the worst thing is that we are seemingly never done with flying.

That's how I feel.

In crypto, it seems we're also never done with it.

We fly across the world to random locations to meet the same people over and over. At times, I find this hardly justifiable. And it's not like these conferences or hackathons are spread equally across the world either, in terms of making it easily accessible for anyone.

I recall that when the ETH Hackathon schedule was announced, there was some outrage about the complete lack of so-called "third-world" countries, which happen to be home to a majority of the world's population, especially the young.

Ironically, we might even have seen more of the world than our own immediate surroundings.

If the prime place the important connections happen is conferences, something is wrong big time in an industry priding itself on decentralization and other noble principles. Fortunately, I've seen platforms like Farcaster make it easier to connect with like-minded peers.

Anyway, back to airports.

The place you go to to leave.

The place where drinking at any time is permissible.

The place where water costs $5.

Airports are sterile. I've yet to encounter one that'd invite staying. I guess that isn't their point. You're supposed to leave as uninspiring as it gets.

It's a bad place to say a potential goodbye forever (you never know what happens in life).

Bad place to cry.

I'd much prefer a train station to kiss a lover goodbye (not that I have one)

Especially the type Monet was obsessed with, La Gare Saint-Lazare.

Peter Bichsel concludes that airports are places for people who find everything obvious, who order Whiskey even though they don't really want it, and who see no difference between arrival and departure. They are places for people who believe everyone to be a hopeless novice, a place for people who have no questions.

"Airports are for Connaisseurs, places of furbished boredom."

In my private life, I'm committed to not flying anywhere this year.

Sure, there's a whole world, but there's also a huge country I live in. I've barely seen a third off despite living in its North, Far South, and now East.

Plus, train journeys are much more my pace. Especially if you have no fixed time to arrive anywhere.

There's some spontaneity in that.

Maybe, not everything going to plan, too is a great plan for my holidays.