Airport Tips

Working your way around airports can be a messy business. In the first place, there are so many people running around the place at any time of the day or night that it is crowded. The signs are not necessarily in your language and of course trying to articulate exactly what it is that you want is likely to be difficult if you do not speak the language. The chances are that you have arrived at this airport after a lengthy flight and so you are tired, possibly hungry, possibly dehydrated, possibly feeling dirty and unwashed indeed anything but well rested and well prepared to deal with stress.

So what do you do? Panic?

NO UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES PANIC!

The first rule of staying calm in desperate circumstances is to realise that you are definitely NOT the first person to arrive at this airport and think that you cannot find something or cannot make yourself understood. There have been countless others before you and staff members have been trained to provide assistance to passengers and will be able to find someone to speak your language even if they cannot speak it themselves. They have also been trained to try and make sense of your questions.

All you have to do is to find the information counter and ask for assistance in the language that you are most comfortable in.

Generally all that you have to do is to assemble your thoughts and ask the questions in a logical sequence. This is something you might be able to prepare before departing on your journey.

For example:

1. I am travelling on to <insert destination> on <insert flight detail information and time> can you tell me where I have to go to catch my flight please?


2. I am staying at <insert the name of your hotel, hostel etc> is it possible to catch a shuttle to this location or are there public transport facilities to there and if so can I get a map with a schedule, or where can I get a taxi?

Generally if you prioritise your questions and are able to articulate them to the person at the information counter you will be able to get a swift response which will assist you with your needs. Do try and formulate all of the questions which you are likely to need answering in the calm confines of your home and ensure that you have these questions listed and immediately to hand when you arrive. My technique was to place a sheet of questions together with my passport and my tickets so that whenever I arrived at an airport and had to find both my tickets and passport I would also immediately have my questions available in case I needed to ask them.

After travelling frequently, you will find that most airports while they are laid out differently will all have the ubiquitous information counter, have a set of international signs for things and will all be trying desperately to ensure that you have a good experience of their airport so that you can tell your friends and so promote tourism to their country.

Happy tripping!