Where is everyone going?
October 3, 2007When you travel, you get to spend a lot of time sitting and watching people, and if you take the time to observe and think about it, you have to wonder, where are they all going?
Flying from Brisbane to London, you spend 3 hours in Singapore, which is the hub for Singapore Airlines with thousands of people every day passing through Changi Airport.
It’s amazing to look around and actually notice the travellers and wonder what their stories are. There is a huge percentage of men on their own, so you’d expect the majority of them are travelling for business. Some even in business suits – for an 8 hour flight, put something comfortable on!
There are a number of couples, probably a third of the number of men on their own, but you would guess they are on holiday. And then there is a smaller percentage again, families, which are either on holiday or emigrating. And in amongst all this you realise how big and diverse the World really with a myriad of languages being spoken all around you.
Overall though, there is constantly, a huge number of people travelling. I remember reading once that you couldn’t have every plane in the world land and be on the ground at the same time, because there just isn’t enough room for them at all the airports. I don’t know if that’s actually true, but it sounds feasible!
You have to wonder though, do all these people really need to spend all this time travelling – there’s so much time wasted in ques, airports and on planes. I sometimes suspect a lot of people get caught up in travelling for travellings sake. Where is everyone going?
