This Airport in Taiwan Is Opening for Pretend Vacations and Flights to Nowhere (Video)

When you’ve been cooped up for months, you start to miss aspects of life you used to dread. Remember airport security lines? Remember 3.4-fluid-ounce bottles? Remember taking off your shoes and then scrambling to put them back on at the end of a conveyor belt? What we wouldn’t give for those experiences now.

For travelers longing for the days of yore, Taipei’s Songshan Airport is offering 90 people the chance to pretend they’re going on vacation.

The airport is hosting a tour that will allow people to go to the airport, without actually going anywhere. The half-day experience will include a tour of the airport, a mock immigration experience and finally, the chance to board and then disembark an airplane.

"People who didn't have the opportunity to take international flights at Songshan (can) use this chance to experience and learn more about boarding process and relevant service facilities," Chih-ching Wang, deputy director of Taipei Songshan Airport, told CNN.

The tours will take place on July 2, 4, and 7.

Songshan is not Taipei’s main international port. Last year, the airport welcomed 6.2 million passengers in 2018, as opposed to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s 46.5 million, according to Triposo.

Flights from Songshan typically travel domestic or to some destinations in China, Japan, and South Korea. Because of the coronavirus lockdown, Songshan has been exceptionally dead, offering the perfect opportunity for new fliers to acclimate themselves to the travel process or for veteran travelers to get their airport fix.

Taiwan has only reported 443 cases of coronavirus and only seven deaths. The country has maintained its low numbers through various methods, including a social distancing app and by shutting down its borders in mid-March, according to The Diplomat. Foreign nationals are still not permitted to enter Taiwan and the territory has not yet announced any plans to reopen its borders.