Terminal Transients

Airports aren't just doors to faraway places but homes to the homeless
Katherine Laidlaw, National Post
Published: Saturday, May 16, 2009

Bodies are sprawled on couches and chairs, or tucked into corners on the floor. Metal luggage carts offer some semblance of privacy as stacks of luggage shield the sleepers from prying eyes.

On the top floor of Terminal 1 at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, it's 2:30 a. m. Stretched and curled across the striped couches and black plastic chairs around Wolfgang Puck, a 24-hour cafe, people are lulled by Top-40 music playing softly in the background. Some sleeping restlessly are clearly travellers, mouths fallen open and surrounded by piles of suitcases, biding time until takeoff. With others, it's not as clear.

The privately owned airport is always open. There are always sleeping bodies. But often, employees say, the same vagabond faces return time and again.

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