How to reduce waiting woes : Five Tips to help you make the wait less boring and less stressful.
Flight delays can be very frustrating for commuters, especially for those who have travelled a long way with several connecting flights, gone through a long queue at security check, boarding, immigration and customs; not to mention surviving the heavy traffic while initially making it to the airport itself.
So, here are five things you can do to reduce frustration and boredom while waiting long hours at the airport.
Air travel is becoming affordable nowadays with advance bookings, and being a very convenient and fast means of travel to distant destinations, more travelers are opting for it.
With increase in air traffic and many other limiting factors, several airlines are unable to meet their on-time departures/arrival schedules. Bad weather and foggy climate may also add to the delays or cancellations, and in rare cases, even tech-related outages can also add to your waiting woes.
Ensuring on-time flights are definitely beyond our control, but here are a few things that you can do during the next time your flight is delayed. These tips may help you refresh and make the wait less stressful.
1. Don’t stay hungry and thirsty
Keep yourself hydrated and satisfy your stomach. The waiting and frustration can easily make you forget your body and health. It’s important to have lot of water and sufficient quantity of food to stay healthy, active and alert.
Have some food, tea, coffee or juice at the food joints there. Half an hour can thus be easily spent.
Avoid consuming alcohol as it can cause dehydration, and not to mention other ill effects it can have on you.
2. Use your phone, pad, or laptop
The things you can do with your cell phone nowadays are innumerable. You can check out your destination, find out all places worth visiting which you might have missed out earlier.
You can make custom maps and plan your trip even better if you couldn’t do much planning earlier. For others, it's needless to say that you can call your family or friends over voice or video calls, play a game or poke a friend on social networks or apps.
This of course, needs some pre planning. Charge your smart phone / pad or tablet sufficiently earlier. And always carry a power bank which is sufficiently charged, as a backup power source, just in case you may need it.
Some airports offer charging stations, but they are usually occupied. Also, cybersecurity experts often warn that charging in public areas could be risky and may wipe off data from your electronic device or even install macilious viruses or malware, so it may not be a good idea to plug into a public charging port anywhere.
So, carrying a power bank seems to be the better and safer alternative. Considering this would help you listen your favorite music, watch videos, connect to airport Wi-Fi and browse, or use the cellular data if you are in your home country.
3. Read a book
Carry a book in your backpack that you can read. For some travelers, smartphones aren't their thing. If you are one of them, carry your favorite books or buy a magazine from the store at transit.
Books and magazines at the airport may have an additional premium making their charges higher. For kindle owners, download your favorite books in your kindle and also ensure that it’s sufficiently charged.
4. Take a nap
For people who have travelled a long way, it’s really okay to take a seat and have a short nap.
But before you do so, ensure that you have an estimated arrival/departure time by looking at the schedule displayed on the monitors or by contacting the ground staff.
Set an alarm close to that time and take a quick nap. It helps refresh your mind and body and is an easy way to kill your time.
5. Make a friend
This isn't easy as not many people like to be social with strangers especially those grumpy ones who are also frustrated waiting due to the delay.
But, there are a few people who aren't interested in technology or books, and like a healthy conversation with people around and make friends.
Try having a conversation with a person sitting next to you, if that person isn’t really doing anything other than waiting. If you are a female, you have to proceed with caution if it’s a man you speak with. Being too friendly may give them wrong signals in some cases.
Just remember that if you don't feel comfortable talking to strangers, then just don't do it. Not everyone is the same when it comes to this and not everyone would like a complete stranger coming and talking to them either. So, those who do so should proceed with caution and not make others feel uncomfortable by trying to force a conversation.
With almost everyone having smartphones these days, unlike back in the earlier days, I really doubt that anyone would find much time to get bored these days.
However, the longer the waiting time, the higher the frustration, for spending too many hours on your phones can be tiresome and make you irritated too.
Try walking around or any of the tips above, if it works out for you, for spending your time in a better way.
I hope these few tips will help you fight boredom during your waits at the airport. Know some more ways to make the wait less frustrating? Do tell us your experience and suggestions!.
For more tips, visit our Travel Tips section. All the best, and Happy journeys! :-)