Family history across the seas

My 2025 A to Z theme is Airports, Airstrips, Aircraft, and Airlines I’ve known and flown with. I’ll be using IATA codes where they’re available. My inner travel agent emerges at this point as I’m the FTO (family travel organiser) and now, the online travel agent.

JFK      John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, USA

We first flew into JFK in 1992 on our long-service leave holiday. Neither of us remembers anything about the airport from that trip, though we do have photos of New York at the time, including the World Trade Centre at Christmas time. As yet, I haven’t found diary notes from that holiday.

More recently, in 2017, we revisited New York, and again the airport itself remains a blank memory though, like a good family historian, I do remember passing a cemetery on our way into NYC. One thing that does catch my eye in airports are interesting advertisements or displays. We flew into JFK with Cathay Pacific from Vancouver (CX) and from JFK to San Francisco with Virgin America (VX).

JAB      Jabiru, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia

Even though we lived in Darwin, we chose to take a sight-seeing flight over the Arnhem Land escarpment one year. Since access roads into many places can be closed during the Wet Season, this lets you see the huge waterfalls that are often nearly dry once the roads are cleared. It also gives you a sense of the expansiveness of the escarpment.

We also took two of our daughters on a similar flight from Cooinda (CDA) in 1994 but in the Dry Season, when we were touring.

JAI       Jaipur International Airport, Jaipur, India

Jaipur Airport was our first leg home after a small group tour (12 pax) to the Golden Triangle – we had finally got to see the Taj Mahal which we were too tired to visit with two small children in 1977. Some of our group were leaving via different routes so we said our farewells to them and our tour guide here. It seems nothing inspired me to take photos of Jaipur airport – or indeed Delhi on the next leg. On our last night in Jaipur we had an amazing dinner as a group at the Fairmont Jaipur where we were staying.

JAL       Japan Airlines (JL)

We’ve flown with JAL twice: the first was from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in 1974 and in 1978 from London to Delhi. Nor have we managed a trip to Japan though we had thought of it in 2019 and intended to go in November 2024 but had to cancel due to health reasons. I think we may have “missed the boat” on seeing Japan.

Do you have special memories of these airports? Which is your favourite city or airport commencing with “J”?