Go home at Helsinki's airport
A new lounge at Helsinki's airport offers everything you'd expect at home, including a kitchen, living room, and the opportunity to walk around in socks.
Kent German
Relax in the living room. Helsinki Vantaa Airport
Even an airline geek like me wouldn't call an airport "homey."
"Exciting" is a word that I would use and I may even say "comfortable" depending on the airport, but I won't deny that an airport is the opposite of home. Either you're on way to somewhere else or you still have a flight between you and your own bed.
Check in at Helsinki's airport, though, and you'll find a new lounge that is trying to bridge that gap. Now open in Vantaa Airport's Terminal 2, the Almost@home Lounge goes beyond far beyond the utilitarian furniture and simple snacks that you'd find in a standard airline lounge in the United States.
Or get yourself a snack in the kitchen. Helsinki Airport
Instead, there's everything passengers would need to complete a modern home including a kitchen, dining room, children's playroom, media lounge, and a home office with HP computers. And as you'd expect in Finland, there's lots of wood, sleek design, and Eco-friendly features.
According to the airport's Web site, the "cozy" lounge is meant to offer a counterbalance to the "sterile and pompous airport lounges" where passengers can work and play. From the photos it certainly looks pretty inviting with bookshelves (and books!), large sofas and art that doesn't look like it came from a Best Western. You even can borrow a pair of woolen socks at reception.
Though padding around in woolen socks certainly will remind one of home, you'll land back in the real world when you realize that there's a maximum three-hour stay. If that's a shock, just think of it as your parents kicking you out after graduation.
The Almost@home lounge is available to all passengers on long-haul flights out of the European Union. Entry 45 euros ($58) per person. Yeah, owning a home is expensive.
SSP Finland
(Via Terminal U)
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