Next time you’re in one of these airports, stow the book, put away the iPod and plug into the show around.
Since security measures ratcheted up it’s tough to find a place to simply sit and watch the airplanes parade by, bound for all those far away places with the strange-sounding names. But they do exist.
Tokyo Narita: Airportal to much of Asia, NRT is one of the best plane-watching places on the planet. Outdoor observation decks in both Terminals 1 and 2 puts the show almost in your lap.
Terminal 1’s observation deck is on the fifth floor, and offers a great perch for watching jets arrive and depart. Terminal 2’s deck is located at both ends of the fourth floor.
Telescopes line the observation decks, and small square slots are cut through the tall fences surrounding the decks – the better to permit passengers to take pictures of the passing parade.
Amsterdam Schiphol: Shiphol’s Panorama Terrace is a terrific place to see KLM widebodies bound for the four corners of the earth. If you’re tired and want to take a load off, grab a brew at one of the Panorama restaurants and count the variations in airline tail art out on Schiphol’s movable canvas. Head’s up: the Panorama Terrace isn’t available to connecting passengers, and you have to enter landside – that’s prior to clearing security.
Washington Reagan National: D.C.’s convenient pocketport is the perfect place see planes come and go. You have two choices: inside or outside, and we mean really outside.
First, the comfy perch. Head to the curvilinear seating area that connects Terminals B and A. That’s the glassed in part of the old DCA terminal, the one constructed back in the early 1940s. There’s an array of seats facing the airport’s main runway. Farther down, near the entrance to what locals call the Rotunda (still a part of A), there are some rocking chairs that afford great view of the southern part of the airfield.
If you’ve got some time to burn, get a cab to take you to Gravelly Point Park, a spit of land just off the George Washington Memorial Parkway. That’s the northern tip of the airport. From there, get out and stare up. Planes pass right over your head on departure and approach. If the wind’s right, it’s the approaches that will send tingles up and down your spine as aircraft wind their way down the Potomac, make a low sharp turn and line themselves up with the runway. Earplugs are optional.
Honolulu: Plane watching at Honolulu International is only so-so. It’s inward that you’re drawn to look –assimilating the ambience of soft, subtle works of horticultural art.
Three gardens gird Honolulu International’s Main Terminal Lobby and Y Concourse: Chinese, Hawaiian and Japanese. Perhaps the favorite is the Chinese Garden. Look for the curved yellow roof. Cross over the arched bridge as gold fish splash about amongst lotus and lily pads. Lose yourself until your flight is called, and feast on the memories of your trip to paradise.
Story by Jerry Chandler
Photo by antwerpenR
