At San Jose Airport they sell cherries within the terminal from a local farm.

FORBES

Two years ago, my younger sister Ruthie, a teacher in the local school, was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

BBC: Is the ideal of small-town America a myth?

But beneath the sheen at Terminal 3, the local and international luxury stores, the restaurants, the grandeur of scale, I noticed some shoddy, already failing construction.

FORBES: India's Airport Boom Embraces Green Building

He put together a holding company, Diversified Asset Management Group Worldwide, to exploit inefficiencies at airports run by local authorities, who can't expand a terminal without an okay from the feds--and who are forced to offer what amounts to lifetime employment to even the least-deserving employees.

FORBES: Grounded

Restrict your communications to when you have docked in port and utilize a local SIM card in your phone or in a portable hotspot terminal.

FORBES: How To Save Money On Calls And Data From A Cruise Ship

"It's the same companies running the concessions, they've just gotten smarter, " he says, creating partnerships with local eateries and chains to bring a taste of the city to the airport terminal.

FORBES