Airports are Dangerous

Even after years of pretty frequent business travelling, I still enjoy flying and being in airports. I know that I am a minority, but this is how it is. I also like being at airports on time and will rather kill time in lounges, cafés or shops than arrive flustered and spend half my flight panting and close to a heart attack. Simply put, I like to get my adrenaline rushes elsewhere, rather than calculate next to no time for travelling to the airport. Having once stood in a security line for 2+ hours (!) at a US airport and had other close shaves, I am not planning to change this anytime soon and have in the past suggested colleagues who like to play it cool and like to arrive at the airport 15 minutes before departure time travel separately and we meet at the gate. Unless it is a super crappy airport that offers next to know shopportunities, I am not a fan of airport lounges that, in my opinion at least, only begin to get glamorous once you have reached Senator status or above, which I have not. I therefore prefer browsing through shops and have struck many unexpected deals over the years. Most recent case(s) in point. A really cool KNOMO backpack for 40% off in Vienna on my way to London, where, ironically, this brand hails from. I only discovered this brand last September when a colleague based in Dublin got praised for her own Knomo backpack by others who also seemed in the know(mo) about it. I liked her bag, but then forgot about it until I was idly browsing through shops in the old part of VIE airport from where I departed last Monday and happened upon this beauty:

You have read here before that I (thought I) had found "THE perfect business travel bag"...ahem. I like to believe that this one truly deserves this title:

 So stylish and with great attention to detail. Also loving the dark green colour:

Flying back, I had even more time to kill at LHR Terminal 3. Travelling to Paddington station, I had to take a detour as the Bakerloo line turned out to be suspended due to a fire alarm. Ugh, much as I love London, I don't think I would like to deal with public transport strikes and suspensions on a daily basis. I talked to several colleagues whose daily commute (not calculating in diversions and unexpected surprises) is 2 hours (!) each direction. Anyway, I digress. I had made a purchase at Termina 3's nice little Tiffany's outlet before, repurchasing the bracelet that got lost or stolen in Dubrovnik. I got intrigued by the little smile earrings they had on display.  After doing some online research to find out if they were cheaper in the US, I found they weren't and returned to try them on. It turned out they didn't look so exciting on me and so I asked for other small studs. I ended up buying their classic 8 mm silver beads, which you can't see here, but we'll agree their boxes always look pretty, right?

As I was waiting for the nice sales associate to prepare my bill, a young gentleman came in asking if they had engagement rings. Judging from his accent, he was Russian. He was looking at the rings somewhat unexcitedly and I could not help imagining some pushy buxom blonde who had been dropping heavy hints that it was about time he popped the question and produced some blinding sparkler. Nonetheless, I felt a bit wistful and for a moment wished there was someone nice (not necessarily of the Russian oligarch variety) shopping at Tiffany's for me. Well, the year is still young ;-p