 A discussion ensued today on a bulletin board regarding what we as travellers can do to waste time in an airport terminal while we wait for connecting flights. Sometimes, we are unfortunate enough to have to spend hours or even days in airports, for a flight that will deliver us from the Hellhole that is a crowded, unfriendly terminal.
Of course, everyone has their favourite time-wasters, so, I offer up these sane suggestions for passing the time and making the wait more bearable:
- Card games (always a good one)
- Short stories/periodicals/humour - things you can read in short bursts, get the whole story, put down, and pick up again later and start fresh
- Needlepoint/embroidery/sketchpad and pencils (or knitting for you knitting buffs)
- Shopping at the Duty Free
- Sleep (on the floor using your purse as a pillow so that no one can touch it without you knowing about it)
- Walk around - lots of it - check out every terminal - memorise where the bathrooms are located
Of course, once you have to sit around and kill time for more than four or five hours, your sanity level drops, and you have to think of more creative outlets for your energy, to which I offer these less sane, but more creative time-wasters: - Offer massages to strangers and make a few bucks
- Run around the terminal yelling "my bra and knickers match!"
- Pull out the didgeridoo / pan pipe / ukulele / bouzouki you bought as a souvenir, and start
 busking - Do a strip tease and offer to do lap dances for spare cash
- Offer to spit polish businessmen's shoes. Use hand lotion for shoe polish.
- Bore other passengers with tales of your boyfriend / girlfriend / work issues / what you had for breakfast that morning / your child's first poo / cute pet tricks / medical ailments
Not only will you entertain yourself and others, you might get on an earlier flight than expected. They don't call it a terminal for nothing. Waiting can be hell. |
posted by Melanie O. at 
