Sweet

A Week at the Airport A Heathrow Diary

Alain De Botton — 2009

In the summer of 2009, Alain de Botton will be invited by the owners of Heathrow airport to become their first ever Writer in Residence. He will be installed in the middle of Terminal 5 on a raised platform with a laptop connected to screens, enabling passengers to see what he is writing and to come and share their stories. He will meet travellers from around the world, and will be given unprecedented access to wander the airport and speak with everyone from window cleaners and baggage handlers to air traffic controllers and cabin crew. Working with the renowned documentary photographer Richard Baker, de Botton will produce an extraordinary meditation upon the nature of place, time, and our daily lives. He will explore the magical and the mundane, personal and collective experiences and the interactions of travellers and workers all over this familiar but mysterious site. Like all airports, Heathrow (the 15th century village of Heath Row lies beneath the short stay car park) is a 'non-place' that we by definition want to leave, but it also provides a window into many worlds - through the thousands of people it dispatches every day. A Week at the Airport is sure to delight de Botton's large following, and anyone interested in the stories behind the way we live.

Reviews

lara anand@lizarrrd

shockingly apolitical considering the context but also this is alain de botton so really i shouldn’t be surprised. i find this man jarring sometimes and i couldn’t help but read the book in the voice of the school of life videos But… despite it all i had a whale of a time reading this. i didn’t know it but ive been waiting for a book like this to stumble into my hands since i was 13 and my obsession with airports and the feelings they evoke started so this was really enjoyable and validating. i feel like this book was made for me. my love and affection for airports and their weird majestic transient otherworldly feel is only stronger after reading this book and i can’t wait for my next visit!!!!

Hannah Yang@hannahyang

Sep 18, 2023

Another enjoyable (and quick!) read from de Botton! This is essentially a longform essay about the goings-on at Heathrow Airport mingled with some philosophical musings about our time spent in airports. I think it'd be fun to read while waiting for a plane. I particularly enjoyed the section where de Botton reflects on religion / sense of death at the airport and the section on arrivals -- I do admittedly always hope that someone will greet me with a poster and some fanfare at the arrivals terminal even when I know that will not be the case. Ah well. Not a must-read but there were some bits that actually made me laugh out loud and some good food for thought!