I like our airport. Not just because of how it always makes me think fondly of past holiday trips. It's also one of those rare things that actually makes me patriotic, albeit only transient, superficial kind of patriotic. Nothing like returning home to a beautiful, fully-carpeted arrival hall replete with lovely orchids, clean toilets and efficient immigration counters to stir national pride in me. To this day, I still believe we have the prettiest airport in the world, never mind that it's now fallen from grace in terms of ranking. That also explains why I was unreasonably saddened when the Budget Terminal came into existence. Changi Airport and ugly terminal just don't go together. I guess I won't ever allow myself to be there for anything travel-related, because an overseas trip by plane is never complete without the beautiful Changi Airport experience.

And because the airport means a lot to me, it was mandated that I check out the new Terminal 3. So the friend and I did last Saturday, for the first time since its opening in January. Yes I know I am very late on this, but I'd rather be late than rush there immediately when it was open like typical Singaporeans flocking to a new AMK hub or Vivocity. That would cheapen things far too much. We don't want our airport to degenerate into a new destination for Sunday family outings do we?

So anyway, I was pretty satisfied with T3 after the short visit. Its design is totally brilliant. I like that the entire place seems filled with natural light to create that nice sunshiny feeling, yet doesnt feel a whit like a greenhouse. And despite having all that space, it isn't dauntingly enormous like many of the new airports these days. The glass walls and the whole see-through design probably made it seem smaller visually. When I was in Hong Kong, my friends and I grossly underestimated the size of the airport and by extension of that, the time we needed to travel to the boarding gate. Note the use of the word travel. In Pudong, Shanghai, the new terminal is vast and cavernous and has many many pockets of emptiness. Ditto for the one in KL. It overwhelms you with its sheer size, and everywhere things are just too in-your-face, with restaurants and retail shops springing up every which way, but not putting you in the mood for shopping or eating somehow. An airport without a soul is what I would call it. And I'm glad T3 doesn't fall under that category.

But in the end, I must say I still love T1 the most; the old, faithful terminal that has seen Changi Airport win countless awards over the past so many years. It still has that inexplicable charm to it, even though some parts of the building are a little worse for wear now. Like the viewing gallery which looks very 1980s, yellowish floor tiles and all. But that said, the friend and I could comfortably deposit ourselves there and chat the afternoon away. The other two terminals couldn't offer that kind of atmosphere. And it's the only terminal out of the three that was bustling with activities and teeming with people. At T2 and T3, there were just rows and rows of empty check-in counters. What's an airport without all that buzz?

Thank goodness Jetstar uses T1 and I have all the more reason to look forward to the Taiwan trip now.