The Homeless

The last type of traveler that I want to talk about is one I like to call, "The Homeless." Now, I know what you all are picturing in your heads right now. You're all picturing a dirty person with torn clothes, crazy hair, rotting teeth and reeks of alcohol. This is not who I'm talking about when I refer to the travelers known as "The Homeless." Actual homeless people are not part of this group of travelers, even though you do see them once in a blue moon at the airport. They just happen to be drunk on a bus or train that was headed to the airport and stumbled off into the terminal. The reason they are not part of the group of travelers known as "The Homeless" is because well, they aren't actually traveling anywhere. They are just wandering around and sometimes causing a scene until the police come and remove them.



Let me now tell you guys about the travelers you see at the airport called "The Homeless." These travelers encompass a diverse crowd. Let me name a few that fall under this category: There are The Nomads, The Unlucky and Homeless Flight Crew. The Nomads are the people who don't have a place they call home. They are constantly on the road going from city to city, state to state and country to country. They have no job. They sleep in hotels, hostels, crash on a friends couch and yes, they sometimes sleep at the airport. They are constantly on the move and never stay in one location for too long.



The Unlucky travelers at the airport are the ones who end up being homeless for a night or two because of either poor planning or things that happen to them. For example, say a flight gets cancelled due to bad weather conditions. The airline offers no compensation for this type of cancellation. If it is the only flight of the day the travelers are now forced to wait for the next flight which is usually the next day or sometimes the next week. Yikes! The ones that can afford it get a hotel while the others that can't are now homeless and forced to find a spot and set up camp in the terminal. The ones forced to set up camp are The Unlucky.





The Homeless Flight Crew are the pilots and flight attendants that do not have a place they call home. They are similar to The Nomads. Like The Nomads, they are constantly moving from one place to the other. They live in hotels most of the time and out of their luggage. When they are not working they are living at something called a crash pad which is similar to a hostel, but exclusively for flight crew. The Homeless Flight Crew finds that it is not worth it to pay rent for an apartment or a mortgage on a house since ninety percent of the time they will not be there. So they rather be "homeless" and live in hotels that are provided by their airline or a crash pad for a nightly cost. Both options are far less than what rent or a mortgage would cost. It only makes sense why The Homeless Flight Crew wants to be homeless.



Sigh. The life of The Homeless, a unique life indeed.