The Langoliers

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Anyone out there a Stephen King fan? Then you should know his piece “The Langoliers”, which also made it to the big screen. For those of you who don’t: Big airplane with destination somewhere on the US mainland. All of a sudden most of the people on the flight have vanished, with a few “lucky” ones left to their destiny. Manage to land the plane on some mysteriously abandoned airport surrounded by mountains (probably somewhere in Maine, considering it’s Stephen King…). No people, no communications, no other planes, not even any smells or sounds on the airport - completely dead. Dead, except for the langoliers coming closer and closer from the mountains. Langoliers are some flying evil creatures with big teeth. To speed up the story a little bit: the people from the plane (obviously) manage to fuel the plane and take off just as the langoliers are about to eat them.
Zurich international airport, located in the Swiss mountains in Kloten near Zurich, could very well be that creepy airport from the movie. It’s not abandoned - in fact it appears to be quite busy. Still, it gives a bit of a creepy feeling. It’s nearly clinically clean, quiet, and sterile. The staff is efficient, but seemingly completely emotionless. I have a little time to kill, so I decide to leave the airport to have set foot on Swiss ground. The outside is almost equally dull. A few buildings and a few cars passing by. But no people. I climb up a little hill with a view over the airport. The planes and the cars suggest the presence of life, but except for that everything is just quiet. You almost wish that the langoliers would come and turn the place upside down, wake the airport up, shake the place. But no langoliers show up. Probably weren’t allowed into the country…

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