I always, without fail, feel a swelling of emotions when I find myself at an airport. Seeing off a loved one, being picked up or arriving on my own; the circumstances may change, yet I am always overwhelmed with the same feeling of transformation - as if something is being lost, or gained, or a mixture of the two. Even when I have looked forward to the trip, the state of arrival, I feel a sense of loss for the place I am departing from. As if it will not be the same when I return, or that, perhaps, I will not be the same when I return; that these are the final moments of this particular version of myself I will never have back again. It is a thrilling sensation, I feel loss for the soon-to-be-past, and yet a deep longing for the unknown, new version of myself I am soon to meet.