Airports – even the outside of them makes me shudder in stress.
Put simply, there is nothing relaxed about trying to navigate a huge case around a bendy queue, putting to the back of your mind that it might not end up in the same place as you after you have flown, before then standing in another queue, waiting to be scanned, before staring at screens, willing your flight number to be ready to go.
Airport stress. Welcome to my world.
Now, before you think ‘no way, I’m not going’, calm down for a second. Stress is a state of mind, a reaction to a situation that causes you worry. How can you combat that? Stay one step ahead of the game!
Finding out your flight information prior to leaving the house will cut out any worries about where you need to go, how soon you need to be there, and whether you’re looking at any potential delays etc. I check this online using this flight tracker, in the days leading up to my departure, and then again just before I’m ready to leave, and that way I know what I’m facing. That’s half the battle, I find.
Once you arrive at the airport and your heart drops at the size of the check in queue, there’s only one thing for it – focus on the final destination you’re heading to, and when things get a bit … blood boiling, because your toe has been run over by a suitcase for the tenth time, or you have a serious headache brewing, focus even harder on how calm you’ll be when you arrive.
At the end of the day, the airport experience is simply a means to an end, and once you arrive at your sunshine destination, the stress and memories will melt away.
Once I’m through security, a good tip I find is to head to a nice restaurant, get a table, sit down, have a glass of wine, and enjoy a nice meal. I much prefer this to sitting in the packed departure lounge, staring at the screens every five minutes, and instead I sit in leisure, taking advantage of the last bit of wifi before I board the plane, and simply flick my attention to the screens every so often.
Chilled out indeed.
The airport is never going to be the part of the holiday you look forward to the most, but if you see it for what it is, i.e. a way of getting from A to B, and nothing more, then you won’t be upset and disappointed when you come out of it a little highly strung, and you can look forward to the start of your holiday with a fresh, new outlook.
