Minimalist Program posted:

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good GBS thread about crying in the airport, so without further ado here’s a brief list of various airports I’ve cried in, along with a brief summary of the crying incident and my review of the experience. Feel free to chime in with your own reviews and experiences about other airports and remember – it’s okay to be frank about your feelings, in the crying at the airport megathread.


Auckland, New Zealand:

Not much to say about the airport in Auckland, New Zealand. I only visited briefly and broke down crying before even making it past security, because I heard a big father yell at a small child in a way that reminded me about my own childhood and how my dad always yelled at me. Basically my father always thought I was a disappointment. I took a cab to the airport and the driver was really nice and his accent reminded me of Flight of the Concords, which is my favourite band. Anyway I had a good cry and a lady behind me in luggage check line in asked me if I were okay and I nodded and wiped my eyes and said yeah and that made me feel brave. I’d stopped crying before I made it to the front of the line. The lady at the counter was very nice and helped me reattach the little green destination strip to my suitcase because it’d come sort of loose when I put it on. I had a cup of coffee in the airport bar, and saw another man crying there but I had to board before I could talk to him. The architecture is unexciting but the planes go high enough up I guess.
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Singapore Airport, Singapore

Had an 8 hour layover in Singapore while flying home from Borneo. Had about 20 minutes of quality crying time in a lounge area that overlooked the main terminal, but I was interrupted by a Russian family quarreling really loudly in an adjacent sofa. I could not cry loud enough to drown them out and eventually I gave up and went away. Singapore is an exceptionally clean city, which is reflected by their airport which is also very clean. It is also known as "the Lion City" and if you go there please remember that to Asians it is apparently frowned upon to spit in the street, to ask a hotel maid if she likes you and to cry in the airport, if you are not discrete about it.
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Hamburg Airport, Germany

CRYING MACHT FREI! Ha ha, just a little twisted SA humor about Hitler and the holocaust, to lighten my review about crying in airport at Hamburg, Germany. Having in Hamburg for business for two weeks, I broke down in tears at Hamburg airport when a security guard asked me to step into the full body scanner and I saw an attractive german security lady smirk at the naked picture of me on her screen. Personel on site was extremely swift at escorting me away from the scanner after I started to cry, and one of them offered me a blanket and some advice in German. All in all I found that the old saying that germans are efficient, to be true. I also found that crying in a German airport is considered a sign of extreme weakness and I am pretty sure they put a mark in my passport about it. I would cry in Hamburg airport again, if I found myself there, but would not necessarily travel to Hamburg for that experience alone.
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John F. Kennedy International, NY US.

Haha oh boy this was a big one. I debated whether or not to even include ‘ole JFK in this thread, since technically I was already crying before even making it to this particular airport.In the airport, I noticed that all the little food and coffee places after security were all staffed by bored looking black girls. I, crying very hard at the time, attempted to engage with a couple of them in small talk while purchasing coffee and scones, but most of them were rudely formal with me, calling me “sir” and going to great lengths to avoid meeting my gaze when I handed them money. I think my experience in this US airport reflects a “macho” culture that is specific to America which, among other things, says that it is not “okay” for a crying man to ask for one of those fat people taxis. Had a real good cry at JFK and although I wanted to die at the time, for unrelated reasons, the coffee was very good none the less .
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