So airports actually don’t have all the stores you could ever possibly want or need. I learned this the hard way. There I was, in Terminal 1 at JFK (after landing at Terminal 2), settling down at my gate during a layover. Where’s a post office? Shouldn’t there be a gajillion of them scattered between the Puma and Clinique and Salvatore Ferragamo shops? In my rush to leave the country, I had forgotten to turn in my apartment keys. Naturally, I wanted to mail them back ASAP. But there is no post office. At least, not one that anyone was aware of. Finally, a food lady tells me there is one in Terminal 4. Terminal 4! I had to catch the Air Train over there, which means I would have to go through security again.

After arriving at Terminal 4, I realized I didn’t actually know where the post office was. I asked some airline guy, who didn’t know of any post office. But I’d be damned if I had wandered all the way out there for nothing! Plus I really needed to mail my keys. He sent me to Traveler’s Aid, a really dark and lonely shop in a corner of the terminal. There was an Asian guy sitting behind a glass window. Luckily, he knew where the alleged post office was! He gave me an envelope and stamp free of charge and sent me on my happy way. To make me feel better, a lady asked me at the post office if I also had some last minute mail I needed to post. Indeed I did! We both handed our mail over to the postal worker and I set off for Terminal 1 and China with a big sigh of relief.

Until I got to the security check, where the line had grown exponentially since the first time I went through.