Airports

During the first 8 months of the year I did a fair bit of flying. Between work, family and leisure I flew as much as some heads of state. Because of that, I knew I would be spending the first few months in Sydney away from airports. Besides the desire to truly discover Sydney, the vision of an airport was something I was very keen to avoid.

That was until last Friday. I went up to Brisbane to visit an old friend from my Lisbon days. Since it was a flight within Australia, it was a domestic airport.
As some of you know, Portugal, compared to Aussieland, is equivalent to the size of a small half bitten nut. Its so bloody small that any pilot spending 10 minutes after take off flirting the flight attendants will cross some international border. Keeping a plane in Portuguese air space is a bit tricky. Almost like that snake game.
Englad for instance has a lot more internal flights, but the airports used are all international, which means you have to go through the most ridiculously meticulous security scrutiny, a bit like Nazis going through Warsaw ghettos. Shoes, metal, liquids, gels, electronic devices... soon someone will put a bomb up their bottom (a fart would act as a detonator - no beans on in-flights menu, please) and we can all imagine the next level of body search, can't we?!...

4 months away from airplanes did a lot of good to me. I didn't even stress on landings, but nothing could get me ready for what I was about to witness... I did my check-in online, so believe it or not, I walked through the airport without having to show ID once. I did not have to remove my shoes; hell, not even my belt! There were maybe 4 people on the x-ray line, and overall it must have taken me 5 minutes between front door and the gate. No wonder most aussies look happy. If they had to go through that soul stripping dark ages Senator McCarthy styled prosecutionist ritual there would be a lot less smiles on these streets!
It was a 1:15 hour long flight, and I had a personal entertainment system, with The Dark Knight on! Take that, you creepy Ryanair! In fact, it was such a nice experience I thought of doing it again this month... and again, and again... It's time to start exploring the big island continent.