Day 50

'Irish Cafe' Pen on Paper

Today it came to that time where I had to leave Austria to return home to normality as I prepared to head home with the group that I travelled out with one thought constantly on my mind. I was leaving to go to Salzburg Airport at 10 in the am and my flight wasn't until 8.55pm, the reason being that I'd booked flights rather late and by flying out later it worked out more cost effective. Although almost everyone else was flying out early, luckily one other person from our group was a late replacement meaning he also had booked the later flight, so together we spent some time attempting to generate activities to help pass the time. On reflection after having spent the best part of 9 hours waiting in an airport, apart from making a fake sign and standing in arrivals, there is only one conclusion that can be drawn... almost everything you do involves queuing. An airport has more queues than a snooker competition, I mean think about all the times that you queue:

- In order to Check-in, which you normally get there early for but somehow end up at the back of the queue anyway?

- In order to get a seat in the waiting room, circle like vultures trying to scavenge any possible scrap of a seat.

- In order to get something to eat.

- In order to get something to drink.

- In order to go to the toilet.

- In order to go through security.

- In order to relax and shop, and then you have to queue to pay, what the hell's relaxing about it?

- In order to go through the boarding gate, although that's normally more of a huddle of people trying to queue in order to join the actual queue.

- In order to get on the plane.

- In order to get a seat on the plane.

- In order to get off the plane.

- In order to get through customs.

- In order to get you bags back.

It's amazing that we can spend hundreds of pounds to stand in what is essentially one long never ending series of queues. Perhaps that would be a venture for the future 'Conga Line Airways', you'd still be as emotionally, mentally and physically drained but at least you'd get some exercise in the process.