Overseas Airports

I am sure that Heathrow is alot bigger than it was when my family and I left there in '75. They are trying to build a fifth terminal. And nowadays you have your choice of underground tube(Piccadilly Line) or main-line train(Heathrow Express) to get you from the airport to downtown London.

 

I have never seen heathrow from a plastered persons point of view, Thanks all the same

HEATHROW: When I was there in 87 I could only get from one terminal to another by bus, I hope it is better now?
GATWICK: Easy
AMSTERDAM: Confusing but they had golf cars for getting around,That realy took the load off.
NEW YORK:no comment!
DENVER: getting to the airport was more of a problem than being there?
CHICAGO: full of long waitng lines,even on the runway?
I think I will stop there for the time being. This year I will fly into ADISABIBA. I dont drink,But I think I might make an exception this time!

 

The airport I remember very much is Amsterdam. I had about 8 hours to wait to my connection flight to Cologne, so I 'hiked' all over the airport and I discovered a prayer room. It had pews and a pulpit, was totally empty, and had Bibles and some books of other religions. While I was praying I felt for the first time the Lord calling me to preach. As I looked on that empty pulpit the impression grew stronger and I walked up there and looked and it was like I could see myself preaching to congregations of people.

Other airports:
FRANKFURT, GERMANY: I used to live in Germany and mostly I came through this airport, so it holds memories of happy welcomes and sad goodbyes. Very clean and properly organized airport. Put a bunch of tracts in literature rack from insurance company. Wonder if someone ever picked up the gospel message and got eternal life insurance!

COLOGNE, GERMANY: New part of airport looks nice, but old part is a little overcrowded. Many Muslim people from Turkey and other near east countries go through it. Cologne has lots of Muslim immigrants and one radical Muslim cell there. German law enforcement is working on it, but I wonder if the airport is safe.

If you are a Christian and you get to airports regularly, check out if there is a prayer room or chapel room and get quiet before the Lord. The hustle bustle at some airports is awful and it is not good for the soul. Take a moment to steal away and pray and you might discover new things from God ....

 

I haven't been to Europe, but have flown the other direction numerous times:

New Zealand
Japan
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide)

Favorite airline is JAL (Japan Airlines) hands down. Best service, nicest attendants, good food, skilled pilots.

Here are some other memories:

Narita -- Japan -- way outside Tokyo, very inconvenient, but the people were nice.

Taiwan -- got off the plane and thought I was trying to breathe bricks the air was so humid! Excellent service there, however.

Hong Kong -- dirty, smelly, generally ychh.

New Zealand -- most thorough searches. EVERYTHING is searched. Puts the USA to shame. Beautiful airport, lovely people, very friendly. Absolutely the best shops for browsing between flights. I enjoy NZ airport completely and look forward even to short layovers there!

Sydney -- least favorite in Australia; crowded, push and shove feeling. The international air terminal requires a bus ride from the domestic terminal and the waiting room for the bus is sterile, boring, small -- feels terribly confined and uncomfortable.

Brisbane -- beautiful city, beautiful airport. Good friends there so I don't know about the service at the airport! Everyone very friendly, though.

Melbourne -- beautiful airport, well-planned, still undergoing renovations, I think. Tight security but, again, very friendly people. Customs folk there are really nice.

Adelaide -- small but fun. Still a place where you can run to catch the plane if you are a bit late and unless you are carrying check on luggage, they will whisk you through the security check-in with a smile.

The worst airports are here in the USA, except for Hong Kong. LA is a pain in the neck but has a good choice of restaurants; I hate Atlanta, too -- need hiking boots or shoes for that one! San Francisco is OK, but the parking is really confusing! I love the light show in the underground people mover at Chicago. First time I saw it I went on it several times just for the fun of it! Great big old dinosaur skeleton at one end of it, too -- a little different than what one would normally expect. Great shops at Chicago! Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Huntsville Alabama are all do-able. Dallas-Fort Worth is a royal pain. Get out the hiking boots again...
Portland is not a lot of fun either. Long hikes.

My home airport of Sacramento is improving. In the A terminal (I think it is that one) you can escape going past Cinnabon and the smells drive me crazy. An invitation to pig-out!

Oh yeah, Denver -- the place is gorgeous. It is also a small city. Just getting off airport property takes at least five minutes! It is also the most confusing airport I know for the way the signs are...a person could get lost and not discovered for a month or more!

[ August 01, 2002, 02:38 PM: Message edited by: Helen ]

 

Birmingham, England... okay nothing spectacular.

Frankfurt,Germany - great airport! been here a few times!

Montego Bay, Jamaica - very crowded....

Port of Spain, Trinidad - nothing spectacular

Antigua - very small airport...

 

I just got back from Addis Ababa .
(Population 5 million and they only have one terminal )

The airport is small the service is lousy and scary. machine guns everywhere. You have to show your passport 6 times on the way out and pay $20 to get out. Luthansa airbus is the flight. There service is normaly ok,But sitting on an airbus for 9,5 hours via Cairo to Frankfurt is no joy ride. The seats are the same size as flying SAS inland domestic. I can only say: Never again Frankfurt is a wonderful airport. Easy to get around and it has a prayer chapel
Duty free and restaurants were not to bad either.

 

The London airports have prayer chapels too. Being from London I have used Heathrow and Gatwick. They are both big and impressive, although I found Gatwick much simpler to use. We had trouble at Heathrow just figuring out where to check in.

I love BWI here in Baltimore. It is modern looking and the international pier especially is very light and spacious. The road goes around in a one-way loop, with the parking garage in the middle which makes things very simple to find. There is huge expansion going on at the moment though.

On the whole I'm not too fond of airports - too many goodbye memories! My most nervous moment was sitting in the little immigration room at BWI, but it wasn't so bad in the end and the officer was nice!

 

I have been to airports in Paris, London(Heathrow and Gatwick), Hong Kong, and Beijing, Kunming, Shanghi in China, Rome, and countless others in the United States. Overall my favorite airport is Washington Dulles airport in Virginia. I feel this is one of the more efficient airports. Overseas the most efficient airport has to be the Hong Kong Airport. The worst airport I have travelled in the United States or overseas has to be San Fransisco.

 

I Think Helen wins for the longest list. As for me-
Madrid, Spain - beautiful art in there
Quintana Roo, MExico -AeroMexico flew us THROUGH a tropical storm!!! I knew we were about to crash and die. Drinks fell and everything.
San Juan, Puerto Rico - sooooo hot but awesome since it was my fist outside the good ole continental USA

And would yall believe that in Philadelphia, someone stole my calling card numbers apparently as I punched them into a pay phone from memory. AT&T caught it and put a hold on my card since several international calls were made on the same day involving 4 countries! They said they knew I couldnt be in 4 countries all at the same time.

 

I had a 8hr & 5 hr stop in Seoul on the way to and from US.....BORING!! ARGHHHHH!! Bad time of the day did not help things.

LAX - by name and nature HAHAHAHHAHHAHAHA My first bit of USA, amazing it wasn't the last. Here I am, walking down steps off plane, and there is a great big photo of Bill Clinton above on "Welcome to USA"......Fair dinkum mate! That's the sort of thing that makes one want to turn around, get back on plane and head home And then I gets around to other terminal and a Black Nation of Islam or something bloke comes up and asks me for a donation!! Although I got a bit of a giggle from one of the announcers there

Dulles....A haze....By the time I landed there I had been travelling 45hours or so and was not a happy boy On the way back out from there I was too busy rushing for plane to notice what it was like.

Seattle....Looked ok from what I saw of it, again, I was not there for long.

Back home: Sydney....YUCK! Everytime I have been there they are tearing something down, putting something up, or just generally making all sorts of mess....

Home sweet home: Aeropelican, Newcastle Those little Twin Otters shake and bounce and rattle and nearly deafen one, but you hear those tyres squeal and know you have finished the trip....That is the best one of all

Pete