If you’ve ever waited for your flight at an airport, you would know what a different experience it is. There are all sorts of people you find there. Some are looking for a bite, some are shopping, some rushing to board their flights and some are just chilling there. But have you ever imagined living at the airport?
Well, a Chinese man who wanted to escape his family has been living at the Beijing International Airport for over 14 years now due to his desire to “smoke and drink” without his family meddling.
Wei Jianguo, who is in his early 60s, has lived at the international airport in Terminal 2 since 2008.
In an interview with China Daily, Wei said that he had been fired from his job when he was in his 40s and struggled to keep any form of employment due to him being too old.
Wei moved into the airport after his family gave him an ultimatum to quit drinking and smoking. He said he cannot move back with his family as he does not have any “freedom” there, according to a report by China Daily.
“My family told me if I wanted to stay, I had to quit smoking and drinking. If I couldn’t do that, I had to give them all my monthly government allowance of 1,000 yuan ($150). But then how would I buy my cigarettes and alcohol?,” Wei said.
After moving out with his family, he was living in railway stations and airports. He settled at terminal 2 of the Beijing airport as “there’s nowhere warmer than here”.
Wei had worked at an internal combustion engine factory for 20 years. He said he was laid off from work in his 40s as he was “too old”.
The sanitation and security workers at the airport have not objected to their presence.
However, shortly before Christmas last year, Wei was asked to leave after a video of him eating noodles in the waiting room in the terminal went viral. But, he soon returned.
He said he laid low for a few days and then returned. “At least I have my freedom in the airport,” he was quoted as saying by the China Daily.
According to the China Daily, Wei is not the only resident at the airport, and in 2018 as many as six people were believed to be living like him.
But the world’s most famous airport resident remains. Iranian Mehran Karimi Nasseri lived in Charles de Gaulle’s Terminal 1 for 18 years — from 1988 until 2006 when he was hospitalized.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: AWM, China Daily, DailyMail