Some of the places I've travelled are off the beaten path, and when that's the case, or when you're trying to find a cheaper ticket, sometimes you end up with layovers in interesting places.
Munich, Germany
The airport was the cleanest airport I've ever seen. The floors sparkle, and it was so light and airy and generally. I had a little bit of time to get a german pretzel in one direction, and on the other time to peruse the terminal gift-shop, and I made a couple purchases which, sadly, got either stolen or lost en-route home.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We had an overnight layover in Dubai. It was hot. And humid. And lots of smokers everywhere. And all the passport people where white robes and Turbans. It definitely doesn't feel like America. I had a bit of trouble getting a non-smoking room at the hotel, and had put my inhaler in my checked baggage not forseeing why I'd need it en-route. Ooops.
Heathrow, London, England
We had about an 8 hour layover, enough time to clear security and take the tube to ??. We took pictures of Big Ben and the ?? Cathedral, bought
US Citites
Atlanta, Georgia (ATL)
OMG, people in Atlanta don't put up fences between their yards? The cleaning staff at the airport is black not mexican? No, this definitely doesn't feel like California. And oh my goodness, I never had any idea that Delta has so many planes! In San Diego and Oakland Delta is usually relegated to one or two gates, maximum, and usually they look like a ghost-town. But here, it was thriving metropolis of Delta planes.
Chicago O'Haire
Yum, even the airport-version of genuine Chicago Pizza is true to the legend of good pizza. Visually, there were neon lights decorating the terminal which looked really cool. As neat as it sounded at first glance, the "automatic" toilet seat covers were a little much, and not as comfortable as the old fashioned kind.
JFK Airport, New York
This is probably one of my least favorite places I've had to go through customs. Aside from being crowded and slow, the baggage claims at Customs are poorly designed, with too many sharp corners, in a way that results in more damaged luggage than I've seen at any other airport I've been to. But outside of customs, it was just like every other airport. After getting through customs, I didn't really have enough time to go anywhere outside the airport, but too much time to just sit around. So I rode the airport AirTrain to the end of the line where it goes to the subway station, and then back, so I could at least get a look at some of the city outside the airport. I would have left the station and walked around a little, but with luggage in tow and being by myself, I decided it wasn't worth the "transfer fee", and went back to the airport and had a leisurely perusal of the terminal gift-shop and my first American meal in three months, a good old fashioned American hamburger. I would have loved to have a shower at this point, but they don't have pay-showers inside the terminal like they ought, so I had to wait till I got home--another two flights later.
Los Angeles, CA (LAX)
Okay, so typically this isn't a layover for me, typically its the final landing place after which involves a two-hour drive to San Diego, because its so much cheaper to fly through LAX than San Diego. Occasionally I'll connect to Oakland from there however. I've been through LAX often enough that I'm starting to know my way around some of the terminals. Its not a bad place to go through customs, though often by this point I'm on a domestic flight. I did get one of my bags lost on a flight on Southwest landing at LAX. I've flown Southwest a lot, and I'd never had them lose a bag before, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Their lost baggage office is a bit understaffed, and the luggage area a bit chaotic and poorly supervised. Luckily they found my bag on a luggage carousel in Pheonix or something, and got it back to me before I left the country the next morning.
San Francisco (SFO)
For completeness, I'll mention, SFO, even though its rare I have layovers there, since its so "close to home" to where I grew up. But I have been through customs at SFO after a very long flight from Germany, and I don't have any horror stories about customs at SFO, so, all's well that ends well.