It's no coincidence that in no known language does the phrase "As pretty as an airport" appear.

...said Douglas Adams when he wasn't busy writing Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Airports aren't pretty. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Vancouver Airport is...refreshing, airy, back to nature...

...but it isn't pretty, as such. It does win First Prize in my 'Airports I'd Least Mind Being Stranded In' category, but as I haven't travelled extensively this is definitely a limited data survey.

Gatwick, on the other hand...

Not pretty, nor refreshing, nor airy, nor back to nature. It's one of those places that sucks the life-blood out of me along with every molecule of oxygen that competes with the odour of fast food, desperation and sickly perfume.

 There's a quote about it:

"The crossroads of today and tomorrow - Gatwick Airport,"
says Donald Weeks.

What does that mean exactly? Why Gatwick in particular?
I've been pondering it since last night and I'm none the wiser.

Gatwick Airport does, however, have two things to recommend it.
No, make that three.

1. It's better than Stansted
2. It's only 45 minutes drive from here

3. A very BIG 3:

It's the place where, today, my son Jamie and his fiancée Breanna are landing, flying in from Toronto. 

They live in upstate Ontario. I haven't seen them for a year. I can't wait. 

Okay, Gatwick isn't so bad after all.