How To Cope With The Airport

The most stressful part of most holidays is the trouble it takes to get to where we are going. It would be great if we could just teleport ourselves to our holiday destination and start enjoying ourselves but we can’t. So we have to deal with airports.

Airports aren’t naturally fun or relaxing places, but if you follow these instructions, you might just be able to pass the time in a fairly enjoyable way. Before you head to the airport, take a good look at this list:

• Arrive an Hour Before the Deadline

If your flight information tells you to check in by seven, make sure you’re at the airport by six. A lot of things can go wrong at busy airport- long queues, lost paperwork, lining up at the wrong check-in counter for thirty minutes- and the last thing you want is to spend the whole time panicking about missing your flight. You’ll have far greater peace of mind with a decent margin for error.

• Make sure you know exactly what you need to do when you get there

Again, you don’t want to spend this entire part of your journey panicking. Make sure you know how, when and where to check in, how much hand luggage you’re allowed, and which documents you need to have on display. Speaking of hand luggage, make sure you double-check everything that’s in there before you leave home- if there’s a pair of scissors or a deodorant bottle that you’ve forgotten about, you’ll not only lose it, but also waste time at customs. Most airlines provide a checklist of things that are and aren’t allowed in your hand luggage- if you’re not sure about an item, check.

How To Cope With The Airport

• Carry a Reasonable Amount of Money

By “reasonable,” I mean enough to buy any drinks, snacks or magazines you might want, but not so much?? that you end up blowing it on duty-free items that you don’t really need (for example, no bottle of nail varnish is worth twenty pounds). Make sure you have both kinds of currency on you- you’re more likely to need to pick something up in the departure lounge, but you never know when you’re going to run into an emergency. Be prepared.

• Pack at Least Two Fairly Long Books

I say “books” and not “magazines,” because magazines take all of about an hour to read, and that’s assuming you’re actually interested in all of the features, which barely ever happens. That’s fine if you only spend an hour in the departure lounge, but that’s never guaranteed. Flights can be delayed, planes can have technical difficulties, and weather can be unhelpful. You need to be able to entertain yourself. I recommend books that you haven’t read before, of five hundred pages or more. And I recommend two of them in case the first one turns out to be rubbish. You can’t be too careful.

• Sit somewhere that gives you a Good View of the Departure Screen

Because otherwise you’ll keep panicking in case they’ve called your flight and not bothered to tell you. If you’re eating lunch, trying to read, or sorting through your travel documents, it’s not convenient to have to jump up and look for a screen every five minutes. If you can just look up and see whether or not your flight’s been called, you’ll be able to concentrate properly on what you’re doing.

If you decide to make the holiday a move to another country you can always call professional and experienced removals services to make your move fast and pleasant!