Thank you, Akron-Canton Airport
My greatest blog yet... I think. It's subjective.
I'm currently juggling around 6 unfinished blogs that are begging to be completed, but unfortunately, my story of running a Full House fan account on Instagram at 12 years old will have to wait.
Why? As of the writing of this blog, it is June 25, I’m currently sitting in an airplane, and I must tell someone about the Akron-Canton Regional Airport. Let’s jump right in. Or should I say… let’s FLY RIGHT IN!!!!!
TO CATCH YOU UP TO SPEED! I am visiting my most wonderful friend ‼️LILY‼️ from high school because she lives in Charleston, South Carolina—a city I have ALWAYS wanted to visit because 1) Lily lives there and 2) Charleston is supposed to be THE cutest, most charming city ever. I love cute, I love charm, and I LOVE Lily!
I am absolutely KILLING, absolutely DEMOLISHING, absolutely WINNING the money game of 2025, and to keep it going, Lily suggested I take a “Breeze” flight out of the Akron-Canton Airport instead of flying out of Cleveland because it’s a direct flight and MUCH cheaper. Lily… you dawg! What a great friend.
I have been to the Akron airport once before when I was about 13. My family was going to Jamaica for a wedding, and I had never been on a plane before, let alone a big vacation like that. I remember two things from that airport experience: 1) I was TREMBLING with excitement because I’d always wanted to go on a plane and also a big trip, and 2) Akron airport was dark! And depressing! And cold! I’d say my memory of it could be classified as an actual liminal space. Ultimately, the contrast between the energy I was giving off in comparison to the aura of Akron airport in early March at 4 AM in 2013 was quite evident.
However, that memory from 12+ years ago did NOT stop me from booking my flight through Breeze, which had a lovely website, may I add! They call themselves the “seriously nice” airline, and I am a big fan of nice things and nice people, so… TAKE ME TO CHARLESTON, BREEZE!
Takeoff was 12:30 PM because that was the only option. My mom drove me to the airport, and we were both extra attentive since we didn’t know exactly where we were going and what the layout of this airport was like. Our drive to the airport is usually 40 minutes, but this was an hour—not bad at all.
And you know what? For living in Ohio most of my life, I don’t think I have ever been to Akron… ever! I had never had any reason to visit, and well, let’s just say I wasn’t necessarily dying to go to Akron anytime soon! The drive was lovely—lots of trees and… oh, that’s it!
My mom pointed out that even 5 minutes before Apple Maps said we would be arriving at the airport, there was not one freeway sign that signaled an airport was nearby. One didn’t show up until a solid 2 minutes before we were at the terminal. Keepin’ it on the DOWN LOW, I see!
We pull up, and the departures/arrival drive-up spot was on the same level and took up the length of like, three automatic sliding doors—it was so teeny tiny and there were NO people to be found in that lot. It was a little freaky because I am used to/enjoy the chaos and fast pace found in the major NYC airports, or even occasionally in Cleveland. But NOPE… Akron is SLOWIN’ down!
It’s a small airport, so I wasn’t expecting much, but I walked in and … HELLO? It was NOT dark and depressing and cold, but rather bright! And clean! And happy!
There was one line of people waiting to check their bags, who looked like they’d be on the same flight as me. Because I had just never been there and it was the smallest airport I flew out of, I was like “Am… I'm supposed to be in this line for some reason?” I had to take a quick lil BREAK first, so I started walking towards the bathroom before doing all the security business.
The airport lobby was empty, except for one janitor. I passed him and, in a very enthusiastic voice, he said, “WELCOME TO AKRON-CANTON AIRPORT!!!!!!!!!!” The tone and volume were comparable to the Abominable Snowman in Monsters Inc., the greatest Pixar movie of all time, featuring the greatest recurring character IN a Pixar movie of all time, saying “WELCOME… TO THE HIMALAYAS!!!!”
As an enthusiastic person myself, I was pleasantly surprised by the unprompted greeting. I reciprocated with a smile and a “Thank you very much!” Then had a nice trip to the bathroom, and it was back to the mystery Breeze line!
I ran into a sweet family walking from the counter and said, “Excuse me, you guys were just in line to check bags, yes?”
The young mom said, “Why YES! If you don’t have a bag to check, you’re just fine, sweetie!”
So… EVERYBODY is nice here? WOW! TO TSA WE GO!
The TSA line had a total of like 7 people waiting: the nice family and me. I understand why people hate security, but I don’t mind going through the whole process. HOWEVER… the worst part is the toss-up of whether or not they make you take your laptop out.
I remember the first time I was flying by myself (And at this point in my life, I still hadn’t really flown much before in general), I was traveling to Cleveland from LaGuardia, and I had never come across The Laptop Rule. I’m in line for TSA at LGA, and I hear the phrase we all know and love:
”TAKE YOUR LAPTOP OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ALL DEVICES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!TAKE EM OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Listen… they ARE just doing their job, and it is a LOT of people, especially with a big airport. It can be a stressful time for everyone, so if they have to be firm and loud, then SO BE IT! Now, the issue for this LGA TSA experience was that I had packed my bag to the BRIM, and put my laptop shoved in the very back not knowing I needed to take it out. I had to be the little LOSER who held up the whole line because I could not rip my laptop out for the life of me.
And the TSOs? If they think you’re STUPID, they’ll let you know one way or another. This time, they were ALLLLL shaking their heads as I fished for the laptop. And you know what? I felt stupid, probably because I WAS stupid in that line!
So… lesson learned: take your laptop out when going through security—mentally noted and SAVED. WELL THEN, when I was flying back to New York from Cleveland, I was so excited to implement my knowledge of “Take your laptop out as fast as you can so you don’t break the system.” It was a busy day in CLE, but THAT WASN’T GOING TO STOP ME!
There were a lot of people, but the line was moving FAST, so I had to act fast with it. I get up to the conveyor belt, and I start taking out my laptop completely, until I hear:
”WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!!!!”
Confused, I very calmly say… “I’M TAKIN’ THE LAPTOP OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
And the definitely not frustrated TSO responds: “NO!!!!!!!!! NO NO NO!!!!!!!! DON’T TAKE THE LAPTOP OUT!!!!!! LEAVE IT IN!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!! LEAVE IT IN!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH MAN!!!!!”
SO WHAT IS IT, EVERYONE?? AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE THE LAPTOP OUT OR LEAVE IT IN? HOW IS IT NOT JUST A UNIVERSAL RULE BETWEEN ALL AIRPORTS? WHY DO THE MACHINES WANT TO SCAN IT SOMETIMES, BUT THEN THEY DON’T? I’M JUST TRYING TO BE PRODUCTIVE FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED!!!! I’M ON YOUR TEAM! I’M NOT AN OPPONENT!!!!!! GAHHHHH!
Ahem… anyways, because of that experience and many flights taken since, I have gotten very skilled in knowing whether or not I need to take the laptop out, then taking action from there. Typically, what I’ll do is when I get far up enough in the TSA line, I’ll find the nearest TSO and ask what is going to be asked of me once it is my turn to walk through. They always have an answer and are always helpful. TEAMWORK! ✨
But at the CAK, no one was in a rush. Not me, not the TSOs, not the janitor, I mean NOBODY. Because there wasn’t any need to be! Everyone was doing what they needed to do, but the stakes were lowwwwww! WE HAD ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD! SCAN MY BAG 6 TIMES WITH THE LAPTOP IN, AND THEN THE LAPTOP OUT! I DON’T CARE! WE’RE AT THE AKRON-CANTON AIRPORT AND WE’RE ALL VERY HAPPY TO BE HERE!
I ask “Do I need to take my laptop out?”
”Nope… not today!” <3
I mean, not that it would matter, considering Akron is CHILL CITY either way. It was at this point, I looked at the man working and said, “Everyone here is SO NICE!”
And he responded with: “Why, thank you very much! We’re here to help!”
I walk through the machine and get stopped—the woman working told me she needed to see my little Monaco Grand Prix hat that I was wearing. I handed it over, she looked at it, and said:
”Yep… It’s a hat! 🩷💖💞💓💘💕💝💖💘💖”
You’re right… It IS a hat! Ha ha! THIS IS GREAT!
Guys, I’m telling you, there is good energy in that airport from everyone and everything. It’s GOOD.
THEN, my carry-on was pulled to the side, and I knew it was for my perfume. It is 3.4 oz, but the bottle is HUUUUUGE!
I haven’t had great luck with getting my bags searched through—not because I packed anything that was too big or had to be thrown out, but because every time they THINK they see a container too big but then realize it was a mistake, they’ll just slide the bag back to me as is, with all of my stuff that was neatly organized now RIPPED TO SHREDS!
A man slid on his disposable gloves and started looking through. He told me specifically not to touch the bag while he was searching, and I had a strong urge to just point out the perfume and its exact location before he destroyed my arrangement. So I took my hand, did a T-Rex arm, and pointed to the perfume. He confirmed the 3.4oz, and then reassembled my bag so. Stinkin’. Neatly. Better than I had it, really.
SOOOO THENNNNNN I had quick time to explore. There were a total of 9 gates, and only one of them had people at it: everyone going to CHARLESTON, SC, BABY! AND LOOK!
A plane… IN the airport! Planes are supposed to be on the runway, not IN the airport! Wow… this place is FUNNY, too! WHAT ELSE DOES AKRON HAVE THAT I DON’T KNOW ABOUT!!!!!
Side-note, as I was on my pre-flight adventure, my ear picked up the following songs back to back before putting my own music in:
“Go All the Way” - Raspberries
“Love train” - The O’Jays
“Dreamboat Annie” - Heart
Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t know the people running the CAK airport aux were cool too! How foolish of me to assume otherwise!
The airport had one restaurant, one gift shop, and a little teeny play area sponsored by Akron Children's Hospital. And, they had this scavenger hunt, ALSO sponsored by the hospital, where you had to find monster decals. LOOK!
How did they get that picture of me experiencing the Akron-Canton Regional Airport so quick??!!!?? I regret to inform you that I did NOT have time to hunt for all of the monsters. But I did have time to visit the AIRPORT CAFE FOR MY AIRPORT ICED LATTE WITH CARAMEL!!!!!!!
And were the two individuals working at the cafe also nice? TAKE A GUESS! TAKE A WILD GUESS, HANSAN BLOG READERS! THEY WERE! THEY WERE!
AND, lattes nowadays I swear are like $6/$7, but this one was only $4!!!!!! THE MONEY GAME CONTINUES!!!!
I was so jazzed that, ONCE AGAIN, I told the cafe workers, “Everyone here is SO NICE!”
And they were like “We’re SO delighted to hear that!” and I was like “SO AM I!!!!!!!!!!!!”
I sat down by my gate, took a look around, and saw two groups of people:
Travelers pumped out of their minds to go to South Carolina
People happy that they’re working at what seems to be the BEST regional airport in the whole world
It was a happy place. ANNNND WE GOT ON OUR FLIGHT LIKE 20 MINUTES EARLY… HELLOOOOOOOO! This IS a Breeze! I CAN’T BELIEVE THE VACATION STARTED IN AKRON!
And… THAT’S IT! I’m in the air listening to Van Halen and writing this. Besides coming after SC, I honestly have no clue when I’ll be back at the CAK airport… perhaps I’ll never be back ever again and will only have flight options at my usual places! If that’s the case, then what a wonderful memory. And to think I thought this airport was a dud… BOY WAS I WRONG!
I hope this all makes sense because I just winged writing this one, I won’t lie. I was inspired by the kindness of CAK and went from there. The Full House fan account blog IS coming. The clouds are very pretty today, and this blog was much longer than I intended. Ahem uhhmm…. WELP time to go see Lily and the Spanish Moss!
Check out my last post!
That’s it I will only fly to and from CAK from now on