Photo © Michael Sommers.
Those who peruse this blog with some regularity might recall a piece I posted at the beginning of the year entitled “The Little Things” in which I waxed rhapsodic over the unexpected joy of coming across home-made waffles on a secluded Bahian beach.Earlier this week I was treated to another one of those serendipitous “Little Things” moments when I undertook a long journey from Salvador to New York City, a 20-hour trip that involved flying down to Rio de Janeiro and then up to Charlotte, NC, before finally arriving in the Big Apple. The trip differed from other annual Salvador-NYC pilgrimages I have made for several reasons.
First of all, instead of having to fly in the completely opposite direction of my final destination (i.e. south instead of north) to São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport (from which the majority of international flights come and go these days), I diminished my travel time (not to mention line-ups) by flying via Rio’s Galeão airport.
Approaching this hallucinatory vision, I realized that the entire concourse had been decked out with dozens of white, weathered, wooden rocking chairs, lending it with the improbable air of a stately southern porch.Secondly, for the first time ever, I flew on US Airways, whose complete lack of in-flight entertainment (apart from a post-“chicken-or-pasta?” general screening of The Tourist, which required the purchase of $5 headphones) was only very slightly offset by faux-leather blue recliners that seemed millimetrically more spacious than the usual airplane seats.
US Airways has a major hub in Charlotte, NC, and this is where I landed in order to catch my connecting flight to New York. Already 16 hours into my trip, I wasn’t looking forward to whiling away 2 ½ hours in Charlotte Douglas International Airport. However, after being duly patted down and prodded, and reshuffling every last scrap of metal in my possession, I stumbled into Concourse C of the departures terminal and my bleary eyes did a double take.
Beneath a vast skylight, shaded by lofty ficus benjaminas, was a surreal sight: at regular intervals, for as far as my eyes could see, people were sitting beneath the trees and they were rocking! Approaching this hallucinatory vision, I realized that the entire concourse had been decked out with dozens of white, weathered, wooden rocking chairs, lending it with the improbable air of a stately southern porch.
As luck would have it, there was a sole vacant chair facing a food court, in the foreground of which was a shiny black grand piano. As even more luck would have it, no sooner had I ensconced myself and begun to rock in earnest when an elegant man, wearing a jauntily angled cap, took a seat at the piano bench. Suddenly waves of sweet, soothing jazz were emanating out and enveloping the entire madding crowd in a slow, cool, deliciously unhurried notes.
After the stress of days spent meeting last-minute work deadlines, followed by tedious hours spent in transit and in travel, sitting in that porch rocker and rocking my brains out while the jazz washed over me was insanely blissful. All around me, people were tweeting and texting, blogging and Blackberrying, iPodding and iPadding, but only a chosen few were privileged enough to find their cramped, stiff, and weary bodies, enfolded in the sturdy wooden embrace of an old-fashioned rocker.
I later discovered that while Charlotte-Douglas was the first U.S. airport to install rocking chairs in its airport—made of red oak, these handcrafted, glue-free Carolina Porch Rockers initially graced the terminal during a 1997 photography exhibit entitled “Porch Sitting” and proved so popular that they became a permanent fixture—the brilliant concept of a Rocking Chair Zone has since been imitated by others including Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston, San Diego, and Cincinnati.
The idea is so inspired that it made me think of Brazil’s major airports, most of which are (or should be) undergoing major expansions and renovations in anticipation of the increased passenger traffic expected to accompany Brazil’s hosting of the 2014 World Cup. Although rockers aren’t part of Brazil’s tradition of R&R (reclining and relaxing), hammocks certainly are.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if, by the time the World Cup rolls around, all the country’s airports were equipped with Hammock Zones?
