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.
SYD Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport, Sydney, NSW, Australia
I hadn’t been to Sydney until 1968, when I went to a conference for a university group. That time I travelled by train, but since then I’ve been many times, mainly by plane but sometimes by car.
We arrived back in Australia permanently, from PNG, landing in Sydney. After a few days holiday, and picking up the car we’d had flown down, we drove up to Brisbane. Something of a learning experience after driving in PNG.
In one of my jobs in the late 1980s/90s I travelled with colleagues to Sydney on a regular basis for meetings or organising a national HIV colloquium. If we stayed overnight, it was good to be able to sneak some time for a gelato by the harbour, or a visit to the Chinese Gardens. Otherwise, it was an all-day effort departing home at about 5am and returning at 10pm. We were often asked how Peter would manage when I was away. The reply – “the same way I do when he’s travelling”.
We took my mother to Sydney for a special 90th birthday treat and the cabin crew announced her birthday which got her a clap from everyone and greetings from people who passed. She even got her photo taken with the pilot and the senior cabin steward. (gorgeous photo but not appropriate to share their photo).
Flights to Sydney approach from various directions but the biggest treat is when the aircraft comes in over the harbour on a clear day. Spectacular!
SIN Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore
It’s amazing what you can learn on Wikipedia. We’ve pretty much absorbed Changi into our minds, not registering that where we landed in 1974 and 1977 would have been at Paya Lebar but still known as Singapore International Airport until Changi commenced operations in 1981. Paya Lebar’s airport code is now QGP, but I don’t know if that was the case previously. We can claim two airports in Singapore..yay!
In 1974, Peter flew home to Port Moresby via Darwin while I flew direct to Brisbane to collect the children. Youngest daughter gave me such a cold shoulder for three days I had visions of her screaming she was being abducted when heading home.
We have a vivid memory from 1977 when we’d been stranded in Singapore with many other tourists, thanks to an air traffic controllers’ strike in Australia. When flights were resumed the friends we’d made via colleagues raced us to the airport and literally passed the children and luggage overhead to one another! We also had fun and games getting our flight back to Port Moresby re-arranged and ended up re-routed through Brisbane. No wonder our mental image just didn’t fit with Changi as we know it, as it was a completely different airport.
We’ve been through Changi uneventfully quite a few times over the years. If you have to spend time at an airport en route, it’s a great one to while away the hours, because of the soothing settings with pools, fountains and butterflies.
SZB Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
This is the airport we arrived at in 1974, returning to PNG. I can’t even recall why we took that route other than perhaps my husband had been there as a lad with his parents to visit an aunt and uncle. I have zero memory of the airport but I know I had a migraine.
SGN Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Even though it’s only six years since we were there, this is another airport that is a blank in my memory. I’ll leave you with a photo taken on our last night in HCM, when our tour guide presented us with a cake for our anniversary…my black eye is from falling flat on my face in Hue.
SLC Salt Lake City International Airport, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
I’ve visited Salt Lake City twice, both times to attend the mega family history conference, RootsTech. In 2015 I was on my own but met many of my blogging buddies. The next time, in 2017, we added the conference and the city onto a longer travel adventure.
SFO San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, USA
We flew in and out of SFO a few times during the 2017 trip and I must admit I found SFO much less stressful than LAX. Nothing especially stands out from the airport. However, I was obviously using Facebook in lieu of a diary, and I said this:
if you’re going to San Fran-Cisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”
A bit light on for 
here and it’s feeling rather more like: show me the way to go home, I’m tired and I want to go to bed 5 
, 3 more 
, 2 transits, and we can jump in the 
, drive to the 
and 
, collect the 
, have a 
then enjoy being in our own 
. We must be getting old, 5 weeks is too long.
What is it with airport codes? Like buses, some letters all seem to come at once. Are you familiar with any of these airports? Do you tend to remember more about airports where “something” happens.
Family history across the seas 
Fantastic view of Sydney from the air. I thought Changi was very well designed for passengers who were waiting for their flight. I liked the ponds with the fish too.
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It’s always a thrill when the flight takes you on the scenic route over the harbour! I’ve been in parts of Changi that are boring but I loved the butterflies and fish.
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i’ve been to the San Francisco train station and the San Francisco bus station on Mt Cross country trip after graduation in 1969.
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Did you get to see San Francisco as well? Truly, I never believed I’d have a chance to fly overseas at all, let alone as much as we have.
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I was there about a week. I stayed at the YWCA downtown and walked all over. And took the bus a few times.i was also in the Salt lake city bus station, but I was just passing through and saw only the bus station.
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I’ve missed out on SZB and SGN.
SYD is my top stop by a huge margin, we fly through there several times a year on one of our adventures. It always stirs the emotions on approach SYD after a long journey on Qantas when they play “I still call Australia home”.
I don’t find SIN appealing. The gates where QF1 pulls in for its refuel/stopover are a looooong walk along daggy dated carpet through throngs of waiting people to the mall area. After escalating to the lounge there’s barely time to have a Coke and Comfort stop before the trek back through the crowds for the next long leg to LHR.
I can add a couple to the list: SNA – John Wayne Airport in Orange County, SAE – Seattle, SCL – Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, Santiago, Chile. None of these are memorable.
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I’m with you on the song 🙂 I think a lot depends which airline you fly into with at SIN. I have memories of being unimpressed flying in with QF the waiting for Jetstar to finally open the seat allocations for DRW-SIN (the only choice we had).
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I’d like to go to SAE just so I could visit the Chihuly exhibitions. SNA appeals so I could feel all Western 😉
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I’ve been to all these airports except Salt Lake City. I can remember arriving Christmas Eve in San Francisco in 1978 full of anticipation as it was out first proper overseas trip together after our marriage. The temperature was 15 degrees C and it was almost dark as we left the airport. We were finally going to meet up with my husband’s Aunty Betty who was a war bride.
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That would be an exciting catch-up with his aunt especially if you were there for Christmas.
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I’ve been to Sydney, San Francisco and Salt lake city airports. Sydney many times, San Francisco, I think five times and Salt Lake City once. Of course, that was for RootsTech. I hope it’s not the last time I get there. I’m hoping for next year.
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What year did you go to RootsTech?
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The view of the harbor is breathtaking!! I have not been in any of those airports! The Singapore airport looks so pretty!!
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Sydney Harbour is truly spectacular! If you must languish at an airport, Singapore is generally better than most.
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SFO is convenient for those in the Bay Area as they can take BART (the rapid transit) to the airport. But, when I lived there I would have to drive over the Bay Bridge, and I don’t do bridges, so used Oakland instead!
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Not driving over bridges is understandable as some are scary. You’ve made me realise I can’t recall how we got from the airport as I don’t remember the BART.
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I’ve flown into Changi but not in many years, not since they had the indoor waterfall which has become an Instagrammable sight. Recent visits to Singapore involved driving or via bus/ train.
The SZB airport was the site of the first international airport in Kuala Lumpur before KLIA. It currently operates as mainly a domestic/ low budget airport. Although I believe there are flights to Singapore.
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I haven’t managed to see the waterfall though it must have been there on our last trip. Yea, I found a few of the airports we flew through back in the day have now been superseded.
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I flew in and out of Salt Lake City – once, for business. I don’t remember a thing about it. LOL!
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I think we tend to forget airports unless something annoying happens, or we’re headed off to a fun holiday.
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