Air travel is something that I can’t ever remember not having done.
In another life, I’d like to work on airports.
Not in, necessarily. Not in a plane, or at a check-in desk, or god forbid, lost luggage. But on airports somehow.
I love travel (you may not know this about me — I hardly ever mention it (!) — but it’s true).
I have adventurous parents, and as a child, while my classmates spent summers and Christmases visiting their grandparents, my parents would whisk my sister and I away to the ruins of Baalbek, the temples of Petra, the castles of Prussia, the fish markets of Singapore (hated this one — the smell, ugh), the pyramids of Giza (where I learned the meaning of the word claustrophobia).
I’m always coming and going pic.twitter.com/hTMApAv7X6
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London + FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) February 4, 2024
Sitting at the back of the plane AND in a middle seat in order to make it back to see Kat Wilde as soon as possible. None of you has ever sacrificed like I have sacrificed today.
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London, Paris, FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) February 22, 2023
I live in absolute terror that when they say, “please remove headphones for the safety demonstration” on the plane, that one day they will actually enforce that
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London, Paris, FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) March 27, 2023
Some of my earliest memories involve travel: late night taxis to the airport, half asleep in mum’s lap in the back seat; I remember my parents arguing with check-in staff about smoking and non-smoking seats, and my sister crawling in the aisle on our way to Cairo; I turned four flying long-haul somewhere above Asia.
I’ve been fascinated by airport codes since I learned that Dubai is DXB because Dublin is DUB; interested in aircraft manufacturing since I first noticed that one aircraft was differently configured from another (by the way, who decides if it’s 3-3-3 or a 2-4-2 seat configuration, and what are the merits of each?).
I remember when I learned that Boeing didn’t make all the airplanes — and later became obsessed with Airbus when I watched the Megastructures episode about the construction of the A380 (didn’t you just love flying on those spacious beasts).
And on a similar note - that bit in Friends when Ross goes to catch Rachel at the airport? Mate you're gonna drive from the Village to JFK at rush hour to what - wave at her from outside passport control while she sips champagne in the lounge?
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London, Paris, FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) October 1, 2022
Budget airlines make me feel so rich. Why yes, I *can* afford speedy boarding, thku easyjet 💅💅💅
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London, Paris, FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) December 21, 2022
Part of my fascination with travel is definitely the behind-the-scenes-ness of it all: I’m a logistics person (you know I love a spreadsheet) and I’m intrigued by the sheer amount of administration that it must take to keep an airport functioning. I think I’m drawn to the human element, too: just so many people, just turning up and doing their jobs, all with the express aim of getting us, well, the hell out of there.
Because that’s all you want, isn’t it, when you’re in an airport? Airports are the liminal space, and they create in us an earthlessness that’s at once seductive and annoying. You might enjoy the time to yourself, the lawlessness of airport food rules (scotch and steak for breakfast? Why the hell not), the duty-free lipstick or aftershave — but really, you’re just killing time until you can be elsewhere.
Remember when you had to book smoking or non-smoking seats on planes? What a time.
— Rachel Fox 🇬🇧 London, Paris, FMTY (@RachelFoxLondon) January 6, 2023
It’s incredible, isn’t it? The entire weight of human history, of human ingenuity, of our collective hopes and dreams and goals — all distilled into creating the one place you only go to when you’re desperate to be somewhere else.
Rachel
