Image
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Cuttings
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
    • Africa
      • South Africa
    • Asia
      • India
      • Indian Ocean
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Czech Republic
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Madeira
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • UK
    • North America
      • California
      • Canada
      • Caribbean
      • Chicago
      • Hawaii
      • Utah
      • Washington DC
    • South America
      • Argentina
  • Reviews
    • Art Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Experience Reviews
    • Hotel Reviews
    • Restaurant Reviews
    • Spa Reviews
    • Store Reviews
    • Travel Gear Reviews
  • Gallery
  • Media
  • About
  • Copywriting
  • Contact
Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter

A Week At The Airport: A Heathrow Diary by Alain de Botton

January 1, 2011
By olivia

A week at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 by its writer-in-residence

 

UK price: £8.99

 

Pros: Intelligent, witty and well-written

Cons: None

 

Verdict: Worth reading if you find airports fascinating and/or appreciate good writing

 

Rating: 4

 

Available from: Amazon

 

Product Review

If you are the sort who rushes through their reading with the prime aim of getting from start to finish as quickly as possible, this slim volume may take you about two hours. But if you recognise good writing when you see it and then like to linger, luxuriate even, and take your time and reflect and re-read a really good paragraph or two, then it will take you much longer.

 

De Botton was given free reign to write what he wanted whilst writer in residence at Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport, soon after it opened in late 2009. It’s a slim volume, divided into four logical sections: Approach, Departures, Airside and Arrivals with photography by Richard Baker.

 

De Botton writes using an economical style where not a word is wasted. His delightful light humour and sense of irony run through this work. It is his belief that our desire to go to the airport is compounded by our belief that we are “identifying happiness with elsewhere.”

 

Travel snow chaos and closed airports of late 2010 aside, this is an entertaining and informative read for anyone who travels and uses airports regularly.

 

 

Categories : Book Reviews, Reviews
Tags:

Trips 2018/2019

2019

January: Zanzibar

March: Cape Town & Pretoria

May: Slovenia

October: South Africa (tbc)

November: Kenya (tbc)

 

Trips 2018

March:  New York, including Frick Gallery

May:  Vietnam including Halong Bay

June:  Giverny and Monet’s garden

June:  Majorca

December: Hyderabad and Chandigarh, India

Trips 2017

January: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
February: Bangalore
April: Lake District
May: Malaga
September: Mexico, Cancun
November: Delhi, Agra, Shimla
December: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Venice

Trips 2016 (not clickable)

January: Oxford, Tenerife
February: Hampshire
March: Manchester
April: Sicily, Germany
October: Bangalore, New Delhi
November: Bangalore, New Delhi
December: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

List of trips 2015 (not clickable)

January: European ski resorts; Milan
February: Germany, Austria, Switzerland
March: Istanbul, Jersey, Vienna, Prague, Budapest
April: Road trip Ireland
May: Road trip France, Germany, Benelux and Copenhagen
June: UK luxury hotels
December: Cannes

List of trips 2014 (not clickable)

January Weimar, Vienna
February - Berlin, London
April - Chicago, Toronto, Montreal
May/June - Driving trip, Spain
July – Majorca
July - Paris
August - Southern UK
September – Northern Italy including Venice
October - South of France
October/November - Germany, Austria and Switzerland
December - Cape Town, Durban, driving along Garden Route South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda

List of trips 2013 (not clickable)

  • January - Tenerife
  • March - Istanbul
  • April - Italy luxury hotels - mid and southern Italy including Sicily
  • June - Las Vegas
  • June - Massive west coast road trip - Vancouver, BC
  • June - Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Diego
  • September - Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia
  • September - Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida (Talahassee area)
  • September - New Orleans, Orlando, Miami; Vancouver
  • October - Puglia, Italy and Milan

List of trips 2012

  • January - Hawaii, USA
  • February - France - Le Touquet, Lens, Lille
  • March - Nelamangala, India
  • July - Milan, Italy
  • August - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • August - Iguazu Falls, Brazil
  • August - Montevideo, Uruguay
  • September - Delhi, India
  • November - Dubai, UAE

List of trips 2011

  • January - Madeira, Portugal
  • February - Bangalore, India
  • April - British Virgin Islands, Caribbean
  • May - Sicily, Italy
  • May - San Francisco, USA
  • June - Bangalore and New Delhi, India
  • July - Prague, Czech Republic
  • July - Munich, Germany
  • July - Washington DC, USA
  • August - Lake District, UK
  • September - La Grande-Motte, France
  • Annapolis, USA
  • October - Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • December - Helsinki, Finland
  • December - St Petersburg, Russia

List of trips 2010

  • February - India - Kerala & Chennai
  • March - Manchester & the North West
  • March - Austria
  • April - Czech Republic
  • May - Lake District
  • June - Cologne
  • July - India - Bangalore and Delhi
  • August - Eastern Cape & KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • September - Grasse, south of France
  • September - Wick, Scotland
  • October - Utah, USA
  • December - Montreal, Canada
  • December - Madeira, Portugal
Olivia Greenway, travel journalist and copywriter
Copyright © 2023 All Rights Reserved
iThemes Builder by iThemes
Powered by WordPress