The ironic of welcoming

What’s the best and worst airport you’ve been to?

Is there really such a thing as a decent, relaxed airport where foreigners and tourists are treated like human beings instead of cattle being herded from one line to another?After travelling through certain countries, I sometimes wonder whether the moment you step off the plane, your freedom disappears.

You are directed here, pushed there, told to stand in another queue, show your passport, open your luggage, wait again, move forward, stop, and wait again. Hundreds of exhausted travellers are squeezed through the same system, expected to follow instructions without question.

There is nothing welcoming about feeling like a number in a queue.An airport is supposed to be the gateway to a country. It should give travellers their first impression of the place they have arrived in—not make them feel as though they have entered a factory where human beings are processed and pushed along an invisible conveyor belt.

Of course, immigration, security checks, passport inspections, and luggage screening are necessary. But security should not mean stripping away every sense of dignity from the people passing through.Some airports make you feel as though being a foreigner automatically means being treated with suspicion.

You stand in endless queues while officers inspect, question, stamp, scan, and redirect you from one checkpoint to another.You are not a criminal. You are not cargo. You are a traveller who has crossed a border.

And then, after being pushed through endless queues, questioned, inspected, scanned and processed, you finally reach the other side—and there it is, proudly displayed on the wall:“WELCOME TO OUR COUNTRY.”

How ironic is that?

Welcome?

After making you feel like cattle being herded through a processing line, the final message tells you that you are welcome.

Perhaps the sign should come with a footnote: “Welcome to our country—now please proceed to the next queue.”

An airport may only be a temporary stop between two destinations, but the way it treats people can leave a permanent impression.Sometimes, the first welcome you receive from a country is not a smile, a handshake, or a warm greeting. It is a queue.