Last weekend I was doing “meet and greets” at the airport. That means that I spent many many hours standing around holding little signs with people’s names on them. But it also means that I got to do some serious people watching!
The departure level fauna is very different from the arrival level one. I prefer the arrivals for people watching.
First of all, all travelers comes out through just one exit, so if you are standing in the front row, you get to see everyone. There is a theatrical feel to the procedure as the doors are frosted glass so the passengers are hidden from view until the doors open to let them out. You can tell a lot just in those few seconds between the doors opening and the time they get swallowed up by the crowd. Some shoot out as if followed by fire…others are very slow scanning the crowd for a familiar face… others stumble out and hit the door frame and their bags slide off the trolley and they trip over It..
I like to try to guess which flight they were on… Some are easy…The very tanned old ladies with blond hair and lots of rings usually are coming from Florida, they are either American or snow birds…The younger tanned ladies, showing a lot of skin, be it cleavage or belly, are usually coming from Cuba or the Dominican Republic. I noticed that many of them are wearing ridiculously high heels and pointy footwear, and i mean pointy! the two inches at the tip must be empty as no one has feet shaped that way… The very very tanned men with open shirts are usually coming back from Mexico. Thankfully the huge sombreros don’t seem to be as popular as they used to be (those made the guessing too easy).
Now the pale people: those with huge backpacks usually are coming from Europe. You have the penniless students often pierced or tattooed or sporting messy hairdos. Then you have the high tech yuppies, they have brand name everything: the pack of course but their jackets, their shoes, sunglasses even their water bottles bear famous logos. Lastly you have the brave and often haggard looking families, with a baby in a backpack and another one sprawled across the luggage cart. Most of them are flying from Paris, or Zurich, or London.
Another category of travelers are those participating in a group tour. Those returning from one, are usually on their sixties, french speaking, wearing quite a bit of jewelry, and salon hairdos and they seem to move in pairs. Those arriving for a tour in Canada are usually French, wearing very sporty clothes, no make up and short hair…they are expecting the rough life.
There are also the business travellers. Europeans often wear a blue shirt with tan slacks, they look crisp even after such a long flight. North American business travelers have a more varied dress code but will usually be chewing gum and have a computer carrying case. There is the occasional Texan or Albertan wearing a stetson ….
Next you have the immigrants, arriving with enormous bundles of luggage, often wearing ethnic costumes. Some are greeted by relatives right away , while others seem to wander looking lost and i always wonder what will become of them…I wonder if the moslem ladies will retain their veils and their apparent submission after a couple of months here…I wonder if the indian ones will still be wearing their beautiful saris next winter and will the men still wear their impressive turbans? How will the haitian ladies with their sunday hats adjust to our harsh weather?
The welcoming squads can be entertaining too: people with flowers, or balloons, or huge welcoming signs. Many people bring their dogs…When school groups arrive there is often a lot of cheering and clapping by classmates. I once saw a guy dressed as cupid, with blond wig, a gold bow and arrow, a short white greek tunic and sandals..in february…
This weekend one lady won the prize for originality: she had on turquoise leggings, a turquoise tunic and a brown hat with two very long feathers pointing to the sky!