A giant globe stands on a wooden pedestal just outside the Giraffe – a restaurant on the second level of British Airways terminal inside London’s Heathrow airport. Just beyond the globe with peeling water is a glass rail preventing onlookers from falling to the first floor. But in between that globe and that railing is a tile-covered space just large enough for me to stretch out on.
Whoever designed the airport seating did so in such a way as to prevent travelers from lying across the chairs. Each chair is fixed with arms destined to poke into my ribs, buns, or knees at strategic points. Once again I pondered the money that could be earned by offering beds for short term rent inside major airport terminals. Something simple, clean, and quiet would be lovely…maybe little pods akin to those in a train. Until such a venture is available, I had to sleep after more than 30 hours of wakefulness. And, by my estimation, that giant paper sphere that was the Earth blocked their view.