AIRPORT
I really am becoming a phenomenon when it comes to the air transportation. A way back to home, a new way to the world of shame. First question people asked me is: What miracle saved you this time?! instead of : how many days are you going to stay, and saying the alternative epilogue- during the stay, call me for coffee break. A flight can not pass me trough, if I do not have some unorganized plan. The best part is, as I just say: it can not get any worse. This flight was top of the iceberg. This is the jelly of the hamburger, the maximum of all of them…On every next trip, or I don’t need to wait for next trip, next connection, the same day, as soon as I started getting out of the shock, and remembering where was my final destination, new awful- for many people, happy for me, experience is happening. Even worst, this is DVD for my VCR. There is no end. In the beginning it was kind of stressfully, now, I simply know that something wrong is going to happen, and I do not even make plans for solving something. Just, waiting for the experience to start again… I just got addicted to the airports. New nerds, new nice people- nerds are always those who are being practical and are always in accordance to the airports rule book, and nice are always those who fall on my acting experiences, and feel sorry for me and leave me relaxed, and solve my problems. I love airports as much as one stopper on the high road is addicted to high road. But, as long as the weather conditions are un fair, and high roads are less safe, I decided that I will not stop visiting airports, until I find nice and comfy place, with as much a possible connections from Skopje- preferable. If you ask me, if I need to tell my favorite airport experience, it will be hard to measure which was better- or worse. If I compare my last two flights: the one (not nr1, just the one, you decided which one wins), I have missed the airport. Not the gate, not the terminal. I went to the totally opposite airport, and I didn’t know that. I don’t miss flights, like normal people could do… for some known reasons. I take the biggest challenge. I have flight at 14 00, from Fiumicino- Skopje. I packed my bags, I didn’t even went for the last coffee brake in the city- No Daniel, this time, you’ll get coffee brake at the airport, after you safely check in. ( I’m not worried about having safe flight, more is up to having safe boarding ) Just to make sure everything is perfectly done. I’m going to Roma Termini, barely, barely walking- 2 days before this flight, I fall into one wide open shaft- I was so impressed by the colosseum, that I forgot to see where am I going, and the up mentioned object blocked my happiness by inviting me in with my left leg only. I’m running to catch the train, I went with 2 suitcases, now I have 4-5 with me (who knows when will be the next time I’ll visit Roma, so every tinny stone that I saw in front of great monument, I placed in my bags- one of the suitcases hit me all the time in the injured part of my left leg, and still I was confident to catch the flight. Nothing stopped me. – As soon as I check in, I can sit, order coffee and star to cry- to express the pain from may leg. I bought the ticket – for the first train going to the AIRPORT, I got in the train, arrived at the airport, no MAT information deck?! I’m going to the next floor of the Airport, asking one pretty nice lady to tell me on what gate should I be on… She saw the ticket, and in few seconds bursted laughing- Oh, honey, this is not that gate. You are not even close to it. The is Campino, your flight is Fiumicino. We don’t have flight so Skopje at all. You need to go back to Roma Termini, buy new ticket for FIUMICINO AIRPORT, and then ask someone to help you!!! I really though this is the best. Not a few months have passed, I started planning my next PM. Next project and another new next destination- London. Heathrow really amazed me- after JFK. People are so frighten, that have whole new unique rules. “The bag rule “! You need to put you lap top bag in one place, your lap top in other place, put this bag here, another bag here, shoes you place here…. Etc…. In this procedure, my lap top bag was filled with DVD’s CD’s and all stupid stuff, it took me 20 min. until I pass trough the sensor. I got embarrassed, a 2 mile line was behind me, because of me, and in the rush, to pack the shit, I give 2 more steps, the bag is opening by itself and my lap top fall on the ground. I might need to see a specialist. People get paranoid if they drop coins, not when it is all about lap top. So, I’m going to Lufthansa information deck, where this nice German- English speaking lady, explains me total new article of the law:
Only 1 bag for 1 person as personal language. Either drop it or check it as regular one. – I can really give my self certificate in not knowing what is in my bag, awarded by Heathrow, mentor- Lufthansa. I’ve even started to pack my personal documentation is regular bags. After she explained the rules, I saw my lap top, and I started feeling bad about the way I treat it, so I made the decidon: I’ll take my lap top with me, here are rest of the bags. She checked all the stuff, she did not even ask for my passport. I’m going all happy with my boarding pass, singing along, nothing happened this time –Good morning sir? Good morning. Lovely day… la la la… May I see you boarding pass and your passport please? Ye…ssssssssssss…Nooooooooooooooo, I forgot to take my passport out of the bag that is already in the plane!!!!\ Anyway, Simple airport, simply me, simple problem. Another good experience. All the employees that were near gate 66 that found about this came to me, asking me to give them authogram, for being not just a passenger, unique one. Anyway, people are being strict, might be, they MUST be, but if they manage to deal with me, and my problems they are GREAT. We can talk about airport. But when it comes to ours, Skopje airport. No, it is not Skopje, it is Alexander the Great airport Macedonia. Does it really worth to do that?! For that place, international cooperation with border countries is falling?! Veto for NATO?! Embargo again?! For the name. Why these problems?! If we put the name of the airport it might sound more gigantic?! Nor Zurich Airport has a name, nothing is wrong with it. It still is better developed as airport than my capital, city of Skopje. We have airport? In the start when you see it, after several comparisments with JFK and Heathrow, you start wondering if this object has standards to be just a simple building, not to say airport?! Madonna has more square meters in her back yard than Alexander The great has at all.
In the first place, when you hear to the word Airport, your start to feel like dog before to be taken to the vet, because airport is not Time Square, nor Wembley, it is still a place where one of your closely related is taking millions of miles away from you. After this kind of visits, you spent half a day emotionally disoriented.
And Second of all, knowing the first problem, you get bonus stress, YOU FLY FROM SKOPJE. The place is frustrating you even more, you do not have gates, and you do not have any kind of organization. The airport sucks, and I didn’t know that until it finally came my turn to cry for someone, not someone to cry for me. I came to that conclusion, the time when we all went to cry for Sandra’s college trip to Milano. After you pass trough all the sentimental procedure, it is time to start the hide and seek game. Who first finds the plane that she is boarded in, wins, while the passenger is not playing anything, but just shocking. Did you guys from all around the world, knew that we do not have tunnels and busses to take you to the plane?! No, here we are treated like you have been taken for a visit of some monument. And did you also know that in some cases, the boarding passes are without seat nr?! Can you imagine, what happens to you when you first time fly from Skopje?! Not thinking of that part, the sentimentalists of our group were still playing the game. After finally finding one air craft, we all got together, light a cigarette and started to cry and telling the strengths of Sandra. After 10 min crying in front of the plane, an SMS arrives: Hi mom, I’ve just got in the plane, we are flying in 20 min. Love you all. ?!?!?!?!?!?!? We all got the same look. Hello, how can she enter the plane now, when the plane was peppering to take off 15 min. already?! Were we crying in front of a wrong plane?! Did we cry for all the passenger?! Hey, here is another MAT airplane!!! We all run in front of it. In mean time, Dafe- Sandra’s mother, wrote the msg. We are up to cry in front of a red MAT, is that yours?! The new SMS arrived, Dafe- Hey guys, it is not that one either, the white one on the other side of the airport!!!!!! New jogging routine again. This is the longest marathon. As long as you arrive to the place where it is being park, it starts to move. You follow every step of the craft until it takes off. After these experiences, I really don’t plan to fly again from Skopje. The airport is even worse, when it comes for going back home. After 5 months has passed, I met Sandra in Milano. We haven’t been home for a while, so we decided to supriece all of the friends. It was Feb. The Venice carnival was held and was a mess to find a plane ticket. Ok, no problem, we are not so far away, we will take the bus this time. You know, when it comes for going back to MKD, it really is better to travel by bus. 1. It is much cheaper, you safe like 200 euro. When you arrive in Skopje you arrive on the bus station, and the bus station is not much deferent than the airport, so why to pay more for no care?! You meet nice people, Macedonians in Italy that are your age, you talk during the way. Plus, the best part is, even you try to sleep after Ljubljana, you can’t, because your dream is being interrupted by the holes on the road. After 4-5 tries, you get annoyed, so you decide to spend the time watching trough the window. This is the greatest advantage, because from time to time, you realized that you are being back to the Balkan
: garbage on the road, buses from 1941, YGO etc… so you are being already adjusted and you skip the scariest part: Civilization Shock. In other hand, if you arrive from Dallas, like mine case, all that truth about the airport… after 5 months away from home?! All of a sudden?! Come on, I want relaxing trips.
Anyway, come and see, and tell me if you’d like to come back!!!!
