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How To Deal With Airport Stress
Your flights booked, and now its airport time. Airports can be stressful places nowadays, and these tips are designed for stress reduction...
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* Leave home early
Airport stress starts the moment you leave home. Dont sit in traffic watching minutes tick away. Aim to arrive at the airport two hours early (usually required for International flights). Then if theres traffic delays, youve still got plenty of time.
* The check-in Line
Now youve arrived, next steps check-in. Usually, theres multiple lines you can choose from. Which looks quickest ?
Maybe the longest line is quickest ? Heres a couple tips. If you see lots of families and children in a line, avoid it. By the time theyve found all their tickets, and sorted their luggage jumble, theyve taken twice the time of a couple or single person.
Look for a short check-in line thats not easy to see. Look at each end of the check-in aisles, and maybe theres a valid check-in hidden by a pillar, that few people see. Happened to me just recently, and cut a half hour off my check-in time - a half hour I spent relaxing in the bar.
* How long to walk from lounge to gate ?
Maybe I should publish a guide to walk-time at different airports ! Ive walked anything from 2 minutes to 20 minutes after a call to Gate.
Ask at check-in. Its an important question. When that screen flashes Go to Gate, its much less stressful if you know how long youll take to walk there. All your good work of stress-reduction goes down the tubes if you walk 5 minutes and then realize your gate is way the other side of the airport terminal.
Sometimes you even have to go through more security, or another passport check, and find a line waiting there. I once travelled out of Spain, and this exact same thing happened. A long passport control line stood between me and my gate, where departure was scheduled just 15 minutes later. Luckily myself and 5 others decided to go right to the front and explain the situation - no one objected to us going thro first.
But try to avoid this un-necessary stress by checking in advance.
* Invest in the Executive Lounge
If you travel often you might get free entry to an airport executive lounge. If not, you can often pay a small amount to use it. The ideal low-stress airport experience begins in the executive lounge. Away from all the airport hustle & bustle, relax with free drinks and nibbles. Read a newspaper or magazine and youre soon in just the right, relaxed frame of mind for your journey.
* Nervous ?
Dont feel embarrassed to be nervous. A lot of people are nervous of flying, but you know its much safer than your car journey to the airport. If you cant use an executive lounge, then theres a couple other options to reduce your stress. Try shopping ! Yes, retail therapy can help take your mind off your nervousness and stress. No need to buy anything - just wander around looking...
Follow the above tips and youll have a relaxed and stress free airport experience, all ready to enjoy your vacation or business trip.
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