Random Thoughts on Dublin Airport's Terminal D

I’m writing this in what I can only assume is a newly constructed departures hall at the Dublin Airport. I saw newly constructed because I was sitting in this very airport, four years ago, and this is definitely a step up. Dublin, they say, has joined the ranks of the European capitals, both in cost and culture. Although I haven’t been in Dublin since the winter of 2004, if one can judge a city by its airport, this is certainly the case.

Although, I must admit, my judgment may be skewed. It’s ten minutes past 6 in the morning as I write this, having failed to find a Wi-Fi signal despite an illuminated “Internet Point” sign, directly below one reading “No Smoking.” Did I mention that I got off a flight from JFK an hour ago, on which, I failed to get more than a few winks of sleep? And so, I wander up and down the concourse, waiting for my Krakow boarding call, and marveling at the size of the crowds here, at 5:30 in the morning. And tea (TEA!!) is like €2.50, so my breakfast, so far, has consisted of a glorified airplane shotglass of orange juice before I landed, a Moro bar, and a 500ml bottle of Diet Coke.

But I digress. The concourse I’m sitting in as I type this is ultra-modern, designed to the last detail. Everything is a pale shade of gray or ivory, utterly unobjectionable and noticeably clean. The one exception is the flaming red that surrounds the information booths, currency exchanges, and vending machines. The signage seems to indicate that there was, or sometimes is, or maybe will be, Wi-Fi internet throughout it. The ceilings are high and the walls, for the most part, glass or opaque panels. Poetry, in Irish and English, is etched into the barriers between the waiting areas and the hallways to the runways. And yet, a quick look out the window reveals that despite all this advanced architecture, one still boards planes, at least at this terminal, by walking across the runway, inhaling jetliner exhaust and feeling the weather, before walking up a flight of metal steps mounted on surprisingly small tires.