Keeping Yourself Amused When Stuck at the Airport
Travelling is wonderful, fun and exciting. It allows us to explore the unknown and it gives us the chance to enrich our lives by understanding others. Travelling enables us to get wondrously lost in a souk in Marrakesh, sun ourselves on a deserted beach in the Seychelles, snowboard on the slopes of the Alps or shop until we drop in the malls of Tokyo.
Tick Tock
It all sounds pretty magical, right? Well, in all honesty, it can also be a drag. Those long bus journeys cuddled up to a sour smelling stranger, those immigration queues and those boring nights of clock watching in airports after being surprised with a seven-hour delay can be less than enjoyable.
Keeping yourself amused when stuck at the airport can really take the edge off the upside to travelling. However, with a little bit of creativity, you can be enjoying your time here as much as your time sightseeing at the Sagrada Familia. Well, not quite as much, but you get the gist.
That Dreaded Moment
We have all been there and you have to realise low-cost airlines are cheap for a reason, primarily due to the wait. You check-in your bags, make it through the odious queues at immigration, take off your shoes and belt, and get felt up inappropriately by security in order to arrive at the terminal ready to board the plane. But, alas, that old generic voice comes over the speakers: ‘Flight 1023 to Seoul is delayed’.
Lose Yourself
It is times like these that a good book can be a saviour. Many of us wish for the time to really get stuck into a book. Well, with a seven-hour delay upon you, this is the perfect time. Keep yourself amused with a fictitious comic romp or get lost in the England of yesteryear with a Victorian novel. Perhaps you want to frolic with some elves in a long lost kingdom. Whatever your genre of choice, make sure you have it with you at the airport to while away those hours, or head for the nearest book shop.
Duty Free
Ever find yourself shifting uncomfortably from chair to floor to chair, searching for the right position to waste some hours in the airport lounge? Well, get up. Get up and go and explore what the airport has to offer. Duty free is always a good place to freshen up with squirts of the latest perfume or buy the obligatory bottle of booze for a distant uncle, knowing full well it will actually be you that consumes it, probably in a haze of boredom and maybe even while waiting for you flight.
Treat Yourself
Why not hunt down that airport spa? Pampering oneself is a luxurious, not to mention appealing, option, especially if you have already endured one leg of a journey, with your knees pushed up to your neck and your back hunched over awkwardly. Find that massage place, pay the overpriced charges and relax.
A Good Old Natter
One last suggestion, chat to people. The airport is awash with likeminded travellers and you may even find a true friend, if not someone to waste away some hours in idle conversation. All is not lost when you make the most of your time at the airport.