baby's first airport lounge

i always forget how long a travel day becomes. sure, the flight legs may only be a couple hours each, but add the layover, the two-hours-early arrival, the even-early wake-up, and of course any delays—not to mention that once you get there, you still have to get from the airport to your actual destination! 

that tricksy little last leg always slips my mind, until i find myself exhausted, bladder-full, and hrustrated (that's my new word for hungry-frustrated; i've previously also tried hrumpy—hungry-grumpy). 

today was a travel day, and as it always does, it stretched and stretched. delay here, delay there. i don't mind travel days, but sometimes the enjoyment of the traveling process means i forget to take into account just how taxing it all is. 

my boyfriend and i have traveled quite extensively in the past year—his grandma is always lovingly badgering us to just stay put in one place for a while. but today was a travel day unlike any other thus far...today i experienced an airport lounge. 

i'm endlessly fascinated how you can hear all about what something is like, yet experiencing it yourself is still something else. knowing about something in theory and seeing it for yourself are just two entirely different things. you can't prepare or pre-knowledge your way out of reacting to the reality of it in front of you.

we didn't even experience this lounge to the fullest, barely scratching the surface of its amenities—but the amenities went from abstract things other people do when they visit the airport, to something i could genuinely do in that moment, that would entirely change the course of my day, like shower off the airport grime or get some much-need horizontal sleep if any of the "rest cabins" had been free. 

what did we did take advantage of was the buffet. there's no better time to first experience an airport lounge buffet than when one is freshly hrumpy and hrustrated from weightlifting-induced ravishing hunger. i usually have a very clear limit of how much food i can eat in one sitting. at this buffet i surprised both myself and my boyfriend by devouring two full sized portions of chicken curry with rice, and not long after we left, i was starving yet again. 

it was the best food i've ever had at an airport. and it was free! ok, not free, but all-you-can-eat, and included in the lounge price so as to feel free. i was used to food that tasted much worse and felt much more expensive. i didn't know this was possible!

there's something incredibly satisfying and world-opening about a luxury experience actually delivering on being a luxury experience. 

it's like how recently, i've gotten my nails done at an actual salon for the first time ever, and they're so superior to a cheap set of diy press-ons it's almost unbelievable. 

overall my first airport lounge experience was quite lovely. i think if i would have actually used the showers it would have been too much for my wee brain to comprehend—what do you mean you can be totally clean and refreshed halfway through a travel day?!

anyway, i couldn't be happier. i didn't even mention my boyfriend's generosity to our seatmate on the plane or how he helped push a stranger's snow-stuck car recently. i actually can't believe how wonderful he is and what an amazing life we have together. 

fancy cheesecutter from the airport lounge