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Would travel be more pleasant if airports were quiet?


FriedClams
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I'm just thinking. And time wasting.

 

I'm in an airport and it's SO LOUD. There are TVs blasting news.... loud music from restaurants... milling music for ambiance... announcements... I've tried earplugs, but it's still LOUD.

 

I'm just wondering if we'd all be more chill traveling if it were quieter. No tvs other than silent info. No blaring ambiance music. Just quiet and a reasonable loudness for announcements. What do you think? Is the noise a U.S. thing? I know it's probably well studied that we buy more junk when music is playing, but I kind of want to scream.

 

Thoughts?

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I have a bunch of Govi downloaded for just this purpose. He plays a sort of new-age, Spanish guitar instrumental fusion that never fails to reduce my heart rate. Added plus is that the music helps drown the noise.

 

Here--sample this. This is my favorite album:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Odyssey-GOVI/dp/B000001J33/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_6

 

Cool! I just noticed it's free to stream if you have Prime!

Edited by Barb_
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I have a story to tell:

 

My dh and I flew from North Dakota to Texas to do a week of house hunting back in 2010.

 

We flew out of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It was so serene there. The walls were painted a subdued bluish-grey, the televisions were turned low, people were speaking in hushed voices...

 

We deboarded in San Antonio - during Fiesta Week. Mariachi bands were loudly singing in the airport lobby, bright and colorful Mexican "papel picado" was hanging up everywhere, and the televisions, music, and people were just so loud!

 

It truly was night and day.

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I have a story to tell:

 

My dh and I flew from North Dakota to Texas to do a week of house hunting back in 2010.

 

We flew out of Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It was so serene there. The walls were painted a subdued bluish-grey, the televisions were turned low, people were speaking in hushed voices...

 

We deboarded in San Antonio - during Fiesta Week. Mariachi bands were loudly singing in the airport lobby, bright and colorful Mexican "papel picado" was hanging up everywhere, and the televisions, music, and people were just so loud!

 

It truly was night and day.

Actually that's a good point! Phoenix tends to be on the quieter side, which is nice. When we flew out of Heathrow, it was so quiet that I kept forgetting I was in an airport. But there have been others that were completely overstimulating.

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Anchorage is very quiet. I don't think I've ever been in a really loud airport except Heathrow, to be honest. I don't mind some noise but I also have never been subjected to a mariachi band whilst traveling :p

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I'm just thinking. And time wasting.

 

I'm in an airport and it's SO LOUD. There are TVs blasting news.... loud music from restaurants... milling music for ambiance... announcements... I've tried earplugs, but it's still LOUD.

 

I'm just wondering if we'd all be more chill traveling if it were quieter. No tvs other than silent info. No blaring ambiance music. Just quiet and a reasonable loudness for announcements. What do you think? Is the noise a U.S. thing? I know it's probably well studied that we buy more junk when music is playing, but I kind of want to scream.

 

Thoughts?

I think it depends on the airport. (I actually have a bigger problem with restaurants and bars that are like that because they are the actual destination, not just the pass through to someplace else. Can Americans just not enjoy themselves if there is not a television and/or music blaring?! Drives me mad.) We usually go to a lounge at the airport and those are generally pretty calm and civilized, so maybe consider spending your waiting time there next time you travel?

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Honestly?  I don't really notice.  I'm usually focused on making sure my kids & stuff & self are where we need to be, when we need to be.

 

When I have time to putz around, I enjoy the fact that all airports are different, and often try to display something special about the local culture.

 

The other thing I notice about different airports is the different languages in which information is provided.  Usually there is English and Spanish, but it's Japanese instead of Spanish in Nashville for instance.  (Unless that has changed recently.)  In some places it's French or German.  Fun stuff.

 

My kids love airports for some reason.  I guess the sounds and smells of an airport are associated with being spoiled.  :P

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This is so weird, but it doesn't seem loud to me.

 

Maybe my hearing is going. LOL

I don't notice it either and usually too much noise really overwhelms me. Airports have never made me feel overwhelmed and I've flown with 2 toddlers by myself before.

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This is my dad's pet peeve. He once missed his flight because he was so focused on tuning out the constantly blaring tv so he could read some work report that he didn't hear his flight being called.

 

I despise the completely unnecessary TVs in so many restaurants. Ds has such a hard time not watching whatever happens to be on, it's hard to have a family dinner conversation.

Edited by AnnE-girl
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I don't think I've ever noticed the noise at the airport, to be honest. Well, there was that one time I was stuck in CLT overnight - the vacuum was really loud when I was trying to get some sleep, but that's not a normal experience. 

 

 

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I despise the completely unnecessary TVs in so many restaurants.

 

 

 I went to get gas recently and the gas pump had a screen that played loud ads.

 

 

I find both of these practices to be incredibly annoying! 

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Anchorage airport is very quiet..silent. Newark is louder but just because it is so much busier. FLL isn't too loud I don't think. Those are the only that I fly regularly. I am always so busy keeping track of everyone and everything I have never noticed excessive noise.

 

What WOULD make traveling nicer is fresh air in the building! Stale airport air makes me ill. Maybe they are trying to prepare us for the even worse airplane air?

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I'm just thinking. And time wasting.

 

I'm in an airport and it's SO LOUD. There are TVs blasting news.... loud music from restaurants... milling music for ambiance... announcements... I've tried earplugs, but it's still LOUD.

 

I'm just wondering if we'd all be more chill traveling if it were quieter. No tvs other than silent info. No blaring ambiance music. Just quiet and a reasonable loudness for announcements. What do you think? Is the noise a U.S. thing? I know it's probably well studied that we buy more junk when music is playing, but I kind of want to scream.

 

Thoughts?

I know from personal experience that it is much more pleasant when the airport is quiet. My son explores travel stuff as a hobby and turned us on to the benefits of airport lounges. As someone who is sensitive to sounds and absolutely despises any TV news, I can't even begin to tell you the amazing difference between spending a three hour layover in a quiet, peaceful lounge and spending three hours in regular airport spaces. For me, it is absolutely worth every penny, and I'm normally a very frugal person.
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I love the noise and busyness of airports, and public places. 

 

Me too.  I love all the variances among them as well - well, some I love more than others!  I think I associate the noise and busyness of airports with travel (duh!) and since I enjoy travel, my mind has put it all on the "love it" side rather than the "hate it" side of things - sort of like loving the sound of gulls/waves at the beach or the sound of a creek in the woods.  Whenever we're at an airport just to pick up someone, I'm wistful that I were getting on a plane myself.

 

I can't stand car noise - like from roads.  We live without it here (perhaps one car per hour down our road).  When I get to cities, that's what I despise hearing - constant car noise.  I often wonder how folks can live on busy streets or near highways.  BUT, my grandmother lived next to a busy road and when I was at her house, that particular road noise sounded wonderful - great nostalgia.  That's the only exception though.  The fact that there is an exception makes me think the link is there (at least for me) with noise love/hate and experiences.

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I was in the Burlington airport for almost 14 hrs the other day and I was impressed by how not loud it was. Granted, it's a very small airport, but the noise level was definitely manageable. Also, the Skinny Pancake is there and it's a delicious restaurant, so it's not a bad airport to get stuck at! 

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Airports. Car repair waiting rooms. Restaurants. Gas stations. I'm forgetting some. But these are increasingly more annoying with the endless new cycles and constant electronic chatter.

 

I finally figured out that my gym has two completely separate areas for treadmills. One has the Baby We Goona Move Your Feet soundtrack going all the time. The other has quiet so I can choose my own pod music/podcast or just :::gasp::: have some ability to focus or muse or think. What a relief.

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Our airport is so loud in the public area that you cannot understand the announcements...at all.  But the noise is mostly from a big waterfall fountain thing, so that isn't so bad.  (I just always hope that nothing important is being announced).  The areas past security are much quieter.  

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I think everywhere should be quieter but it's not the general hubub of people going about their business that I find invasive and overwhelming but the music and televisions. I have been in a silent airport and that was a bit creepy, it was just empty. I'd love birdsong as an alternative to music in public places.

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Airports (and life in general) would be more pleasant if people exercised better phone etiquette.  I really do not want to hear a harangue or an annoying sales pitch.  Or colorful language.  Some people are just plain LOUD when speaking on their phones.

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Oh I hate the TVs at the airport. I don't understand why they don't just mute them and have subtitles. If anyone was really watching, they would get the news without blasting everyone else. The nights I have been stuck in airports, they never turn off either. So just blaring news all night long!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I do hate TV!  In most places around here, they keep it silent with subtitles, so you can ignore it if you want to.  But two places come to mind - the dentist and the car fixit place.  At least I can ask the dentist to turn the damn thing off.  The car place, it depends on whether anyone else is sitting there possibly wanting to hear about pop psychology, cooking, or The Days of Fake People's Lives.  Blah.  :P

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