Can a temporary dwelling still be a home?

It's the question a stunning 7-minute film explores in an unexpected and largely unknown territory — the parking lot of Los Angeles International Airport.

In this parking lot, which many a traveler has likely flown or driven past without much thought, more than 70 motor homes make up a community of the pilots, flight attendants and mechanics who operate your flights.

One unidentified resident in the short film points to a few quiet motor homes around him.

"My friend here, he flies for an overseas carrier, he was actually an Air Force graduate," he says. "He's currently in Hong Kong."

He points to another.

"My friend over here, his name is Cal, he works for American," he says. "A Delta flight attendant lives right over there."

The parking lot was created a decade ago as an airport-sponsored program to help give airline employees a place to rest, according to director Lance Oppenheim, who spotted the lot as a student filmmaker.

"Today, however, the next destination for many of the lot's residents is unknown," notes Oppenheim in the New York Times op-ed that features the video. "As a result of pursuing their dream of working in the aviation industry, with its attendant transient lifestyle, many of the parking lot's residents are estranged from their families. They are largely a community of people living alone, together — and most now consider the lot 'home.'"

Watch the film below, and be astounded by the passion and enthusiasm of the airline workers featured. It's just one more reason to appreciate — and a way to better understand — the people who make our travel plans possible.

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