Please, remember that I am sharing, not whining. I have a lovely bed, space to myself, and a decent set of headphones which serve both to keep me entertained and to block noise.
The baggage yard is where all the palletized personal gear from inbound flights is dropped off. It is not hard stand, rather crushed gravel with the usual amount of dust and dirt for filler.
This obviously means forklifts – the large kind with operator perched high above us mortals wearing hearing protection, goggles, and some days a dust mask. The engines growl only when the load is heavy. A two meter tall pallet of duffel bags is really not all that much from the point of view of the forklift.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Yep, another one backing up to turn around and exit this 50×50 ft space. Shortly, the noise changes to grumbles and loud voices. This is not a regular airport – there are no baggage handlers who sling your bags onto a conveyor belt. There is no belt – there is the pallet. If you want your gear, you get to help unload the pallet. Off come the tie downs and smart groups get organized, laying the bags out in lines so that everyone can find their gear. Other disparet passanger groups just toss stuff around making it that much harder for everyone else.
SUVs, 4x4s, trucks, small buses and other vehicles are pulling up along the road continuosly to claim their inbound pax. During the day, the chaos is actually kind of interesting to watch.
At night, right across the street from my door? I am finding my headphones a quite useful bit of equipment.
