Question by Gwyhir: Do airports ruin your holiday ?
Waiting around for hours, rubbish facilities, very uncomfortable seats, dragging your stuff around, crummy transfer buses, etc etc. Now they are going to charge for dropping some-one off or picking them up (and Ryan-air charging for WC use on their planes !). I like planes but every holiday I have been on has begun and ended with a s**t day at a UK airport.
My stories.. Me (one parent family) and two kids driving at 2 am for a 6 am flight to Greece from Manchester – 5 hour delay and nothing opened till 9 am. Flight from Corfu to Manchester arrived one hour late missing the train connection – a night on Manchester airport with everything shut.
Long lines of people waiting to check in and we were only going Jersey.
No matter how expensive your holiday is, the airports are totally ‘economy’.
Best answer:
Answer by Dale Q
I know the airport may be shi*ty but I love it!
Add your own answer in the comments!
I hate how you stand in a huge line for ages just to check in.
Then you make your way to another line where you have to take out things from your bag, take off you shoes, belts and coats, place them in the x-ray and walk though a metal detector to put it all back on and in your bag…
Plus, you then feel hurried to do this by people waiting behind you so you rush everything and get stressed in the process.!
Great way to start a vacation…
absolutely
I love the airport!! Talking to people who are excited about their holiday, looking round the duty free, etc.
You should never allow anything to ruin your holiday! It is very precious. When things get too sh1tty have a sense of humour about it. When you are bored waiting for boarding, read a book or magazine or better yet a guide of the place you are about to visit. Bring your laptop with you loaded with your favorite music, movies and series.
The worst experience I have ever had was in the “international” airport of Quito, Ecuador. I was flying from Amsterdam with KLM and during landing the aircraft stopped 20 meters before a wall and people’s houses! I could grab their laundry that was drying in the sun if I wanted, it was that close!
The runway was just tiny for a Boeing 737 had I known it I would have written my will on the pillow they gave me during the flight.
We waited 2 hours to get through migration, one of them under the sun of the equator! I was incredibly dizzy ’cause of the altitude and I desperately wanted to go to the loo.
After we were done with migration I ran to the toilets to discover that they are out of order and flooded! I hopped like a frog on the water to try to use them anyway, I realize it’s impossible and I went back!
I waited for my luggage for another 2 hours, I waited and waited until the airport was almost empty and the belt stopped! Mine, my friend’s and 9 more people’s luggage had stayed in Amsterdam! I thought this is as close as it gets to experiencing what Hell feels like…
The only employee I could find that could speak a few english preffered to hit on me than help me! Everything was going so wrong that it became ridiculous!
At that point me and my friend started laughing and placing bets what will go wrong next. Turned out nothing more did we had an amazing holiday in Ecuador and got our luggage delivered to our hotel 2 days later with money compensation from KLM.
Yeap, you could say that this was a horrific experience but when we came home we were the ones with the story
I feel the same way you do, and airports and air travel in general are some of the reasons why I never travel voluntarily. I love to fly in a plane, but unfortunately that’s only a small part of traveling by air, and every other part of air travel is a nightmare. The short period I spend in the air (the best parts being take-off and landing) does not justify the hours and hours of hassle required to enjoy it.
I used to hate them, but not since I got Qantas club membership free through work. Now I love it!
Delays? No problem, I’ll just have a nap, enjoy some free food and drinks, maybe even have a shower. So much more comfortable than the regular airport seating areas.
Worth every penny that I didn’t spend…