Traveling, especially business travel, can feel pretty anonymous. You haven’t really chosen to go to your destination, and since you’ll be in meetings, you probably won’t see much except for your hotel room and maybe a restaurant or two. So off you go, in a taxi or on the bus from home, overnight bag and itinerary in hand. You’re preoccupied, perhaps by the presentation you are to make or by the meeting you must attend. Airport lounges are transient places – everyone going somewhere but no one really belongs; there’s really no “there” there. On the odd fortunate occasion, you hear your name being called by someone nearby and, to your intense pleasure, you see that it’s a dear old friend who moved halfway across the country a few years back. Your friend is smiling broadly and at first, you’re both a little awkward as you hug or shake hands warmly. You sit down for a coffee in one of the faux terrace cafés and before you know it, the anonymous airport lounge lit by relentless fluorescent lights melts away and turns into the café in which you always met your old friend, years ago, to swap stories and share your joys and sadnesses. Soon you hear the final boarding call for your flight – form a distance, it feels – and you take your leave and board the plane, still happy.