With All These Amenities And Activities, It May Be Difficult To Go Into Town
The day may have finally come when an airport has so many amenities and activities, it may no longer be desirable to go into the city it actually serves.
And what I’ve seen of the new Jewel Changi Airport, that could well be the case. It has the world’s tallest indoor waterfall (okay, nice to look at but not enough to keep me there all day) and a forest canopy the size of 11 Olympic swimming pools.
This won’t keep me from going into Singapore, either, if I’m ever to fly into Jewel Changi, but it also has walking trails, sky nets, mazes, slides and a totally cool looking “experience studio” which looks like one of those selfie pop-up places.
No doubt it has also some interesting bars and quality restaurants and well, with all this it would indeed be hard to leave the airport. Especially if you have a short trip to Singapore (there’s are also beds).
The goal, as is becoming an trend in new airport designs, is to make the airport rather than the city a destination. Munich has an Oktoberfest-type beer hall and even put in a tennis court during a professional tennis tournament. Zurich has a guy in an atrium playing a grand piano.
Amsterdam considered putting in brothels, bringing a bit of the Red Light District to travelers that would possibly make for membership into a ground-based Mile High Club.
Would you travel to a destination just to go its airport? When I arrive at a place, I’m usually hurrying to get out of the airport. I want to get to the location where I’ll be staying, and any time that I linger keeps me from it. One advantage to all these ridiculous airline baggage fees is that it forces people to bring just a carry-on, and for me that means I’m on my way to my destination some 45 minutes earlier than if I had to go to baggage claim.
I would also feel a bit claustrophobic had I traveled to a place and never left the airport, no matter how nice it might be; I would feel like an animal kept in a cage. Or at least I think I would because I’ve never hung around in an airport when I could leave.
Now, I do like nice airports. It puts me in a good, positive mood about a destination. And if I manage to get through security quickly for an outbound flight – or have a long layover – and find myself with time to burn, it’s good to have pleasant surroundings and diversions.
I would have to see Jewel Changi to experience it to truly appreciate it and then I might be a little more open to spending free time in an airport. Before heading into Singapore, of course.
Cheers!
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