Packing your liquids, there are never any bags, or any staff who might direct you to some, you have to take off your shoes for reasons apparently, and then the bathrooms. Piss everywhere, no locks on any doors, sinks full of snot from people blowing their nose, broken soap dispenser, and piddly little tap so short you have to touch the filthy bowl to get a dribble on yours hands. Then the self checkout starts SCREAMING at you, SCAN ITEM TO BEGIN TRANSACTION. Fuck you, leave me alone. Don't get me started on the crowding.
All of the above applies to every form of public transport.
Edit: I had forgotten that once you are on the plane they spend the first hour screaming at you with announcements at max volume.
And the level of tension around everything thanks to post 9/11 security theater.
I always fall into the "I better not look suspicious" > (acts very suspicious because I'm nervous about acting suspicious) anxiety loop
I haven't been in an airport in a few years, and I'm pretty white passing so I guess my experience with TSA is obviously not everyone else's, but the thing that works for me is thinking "these clowns have probably never had a real problem in their entire careers, this is all a theater, just get the boring mundane stuff out of the way." It can be hard to keep your cool once you start spiraling due to all the sensory stuff though, I get that.
Thank you! Yeah I usually start out that way, until I do one thing and start over-analyzing it.