# Being in an airport: Have you been to that state?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 4, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449 "2006-05-04T21:05:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ender\_Will](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ender_Will)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/1 "2006-05-04T21:05:58Z")
Inspired by my coworkers assertion that she has been to New Jersey because she had a layover in Newark.
If the only time someone has been to a state (or country) is within an airport as a layover, would you (the Millions, this is a poll) describe that person as having been to said state/country?
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/2 "2006-05-04T21:08:25Z")
Yes, they have been to that state/country.
I do the same thing, though I do qualify it with the ‘at the airport’ bit.
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### Author:  [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/3 "2006-05-04T21:13:37Z")
I specifically try to set foot OUTSIDE the airport - even if it means just walking out to the parking deck and back - so I can count that state. If I never leave the airport, then I don’t count it as having been to that state (sorry Minnesota).
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### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/4 "2006-05-04T21:31:32Z")
Yes, I count it. Especially when I’ve spent as much time at the airport as I would have going into the city for a meeting.
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### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/5 "2006-05-04T21:37:35Z")
Great question! I have gone back and forth on this, but I don’t personally count this, unless I take a taxi ride to the downtown area and back or something.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/6 "2006-05-04T21:38:44Z")
Heh. I wouldn’t say I’ve been to Michigan even though I’ve transferred in Detriot.
But odder still, every year I drive from Orlando to DC for an online gathering. Yet I’ve never flown into DC: only as a layover. And odder still: the prices are only a couple hundred dollars, yet we invariably transfer through National. I’d wager that if I flew _into_ national it might be more expensive due to location relative to Dulles. (Or, to totally hijack, is it more due to the fact that Dulles handles the larger aircraft and National handles the smaller?)
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/7 "2006-05-04T21:39:40Z")
> [@xizor](#):
>
> I specifically try to set foot OUTSIDE the airport - even if it means just walking out to the parking deck and back - so I can count that state. If I never leave the airport, then I don’t count it as having been to that state (sorry Minnesota).
I try not to do _anything_ which would cause me to have to go back through security. But I still count it as having been in that state.
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/8 "2006-05-04T21:49:02Z")
It should count, just as being on a boat that cruises a river that is within the borders of the state or driving nonstop across a state. I don’t count flyovers, though, but probably could be persuaded even on that.
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### Author:  [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/9 "2006-05-04T22:00:33Z")
I faced this dilema while transferring planes in SLC. Since I actually had to walk outside to get off / on the plane, I decided to count it as being in Utah.
Not sure if I would count it if I never was outside the terminal.
I do not count flyovers.
Brian
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/10 "2006-05-04T22:11:20Z")
Despite spending a lot of time in New York State, I have only been to NYC once. A change of planes at LaGuardia. So I count that as a trip to NYC.
Note that the stay was _longer_ than my trip thru New Hampshire on I-95. Or my trip to Delaware when I wound up too far north on the Maryland shore and had to double back.
A second, an hour, a day. If I’m on the ground, it counts.
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### Author:  [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/11 "2006-05-04T22:15:14Z")
Depends on the context. If for some reason I want a higher number to boast about, I count my layover in the UK as an extra country. But, ordinarily, I don’t mention it, since I never even had a chance to get off the airplane. Certainly, I spend more time discussing places I’ve actually experienced–I’m not sure how much unique regional experience the average airport contains.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/12 "2006-05-04T22:40:03Z")
The airport does not count.
I haven’t decided about train stations, yet.
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/13 "2006-05-04T22:59:34Z")
Our family rule is that not only do airports not count, you have to do two things for a state or country to count: [ul]
[li]set foot on the ground[/li][li]ingest something or …um…leave something behind[/li][/ul]
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/14 "2006-05-04T23:01:43Z")
I don’t count airport layovers as having been there, though as it happens, at present, I have ended up actually going somewhere in every state I’ve ever had a layover in.
So far I have - well, it would be easier to say the states I don’t have: Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Louisiana, Idaho, Montana, both Dakotas, West Virginia, and New Mexico. Among Canadian provinces I am missing only Newfoundland. Oh, and Mississippi. As a state, not a province.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/15 "2006-05-04T23:04:42Z")
I don’t count it as such, but I’m more of an obsessive tourist than most. I don’t count drive-throughs either, I only count if I’d actually done something tourist-like in the given state.
Heck I wouldn’t even say I’d been to “Newfoundland and Labrador” unless I’d actually done something in Newfoundland AND in Labrador (which I have).
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### Author:  [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/16 "2006-05-04T23:11:08Z")
I count it. Tho I do qualify it.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/17 "2006-05-05T00:13:00Z")
If you happen to connect through CVG (Cincinnati) airport, you haven’t been to Ohio. You’ve been to Kentucky.
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### Author:  [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/18 "2006-05-05T01:19:04Z")
> [@Rysdad](#):
>
> If you happen to connect through CVG (Cincinnati) airport, you haven’t been to Ohio. You’ve been to Kentucky.
I tried to get Cincinnati three-way chili at CVG and they looked at me like I was nuts.
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### Author:  [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/19 "2006-05-05T01:23:13Z")
No, airports are too generic. Unless I have actually made my way around the state (or country) a bit, I don’t count it.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [May 5, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-an-airport-have-you-been-to-that-state/355449/20 "2006-05-05T01:25:32Z")
I don’t count airports, although I gave myself an exception when I had to spend 36 hours in the Munich airport thanks to the fine folks at Lufthansa. Actually, I sometimes count that as _having lived in Germany_, because I think I aged 10 years as a result of my airport visit.
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