Things I Get Up To In Airports

Alright peeps!

So I have to admit, whilst the majority of great writers out there wax lyrical about the beauty of long train journeys that carry you past rolling fields of unknown, I travel by air a lot more than I do by train. Whilst I feel like it’s not very brave or travel-savvy to admit, getting trains alone makes me a little uncomfortable as a solo female traveller. I feel like that’s a cue for another post, but basically a lot of scenarios run through my mind when I’m sat alone in a train compartment for hours on end.

So as I’m going to be popping in and out of airports for the rest of the month I thought I’d fill you in on all the little things I get up to in airpots & on the flights!

1. Work

I remember as a kid, when airports signalled the start of the holiday you’ve waited for all year and you’re too excited to even sit still! So you run around looking at all the duty free items and watching the planes. In fact, I grew up almost next door to Heathrow so watching the planes take off was also a fun day out!

Unfortunately, frequent travel has a way of numbing the senses, and the excitement for me doesn’t really start until I’ve hit foreign soil at the end of the flight. Add to this the fact that a lot of airports still have an horrific wifi service, I find it really easy to just settle in to my laptop and get some work done. The lack of wifi is always a silver lining. I work so much online that being forced to switch off gives me the time to focus on the career I really want in writing.

2. Read

Along with writing, reading is yet another passion that seems to get pushed aside in a lifestyle in which I seem to be always connected to the blog or my various social media accounts. But airports just have this relaxing effect on me. Despite the overwhelming number of people pacing around impatiently, running to get to the gate before it closes, or trying to settle down screaming children, I manage to fall straight back in to old ways I had as a kid where I would just consume myself in whatever world I was reading about and completely zone out of real life.

3. Drink Coffee

Okay, okay, so I do this anywhere, at any time, 24/7. But often I’ll get coffee to go (my car is littered in empty coffee cups!) or I’ll be letting it get cold whilst I get on with work at home. And whilst the coffee shops in airports are pretty standard (Starbucks, Costa, or Cafe Nero…every time) it’s nice to just sit in one with my Kindle or laptop and drink from a huge mug or two for an hour.

4. People Watch

So. Many. People! If there’s one thing that draws my attention away from my Kindle it’s screaming children. I really can’t stand that sound. But as soon as you look over they stop and you’ll catch them giggling, or their parents telling them off, or most of the time their older brother or sister will be telling them off! From there I just end up browsing all the other people sat on that row, and the people in front of them, and it’s just so interesting to watch people go about their lives completely unaware that someone might have noticed when they gave up a seat for an elderly man waiting for a flight, or that they picked up a coffee cup and put it in the bin even though it wasn’t theirs. It’s comforting, in a non-stalkerish kind of way!

One thing I don’t do…

I really really dislike duty free shopping! Half the time I can barely see a price difference, and the other half I’m too concerned that my carry-on bag would be even heavier to lug around for two weeks if I even dared to buy a new bikini. The fact that airports just look like giant shopping centres is my pet peeve.

Let me know what you do when you have time to kill in the airport! I hope I’m not the only people-watcher!

Lots of love,