Sometimes I don’t make the best travel decisions. Sometimes the money factor outweighs the value of time. Sometimes I’m too tired or excited to think rationally before I purchase a ticket.
I am in possession of a plane ticket with a 12 hour stop-over, though the flight itself only amounts to 3 hours. This is my first world problem…
On a flight from Miami and Toronto, I have 12 hours of the night to spend at Philadelphia airport. I arrive at the airport at around 9 in the evening. I seek the service desk to get my boarding pass printed for the morning flight, and the attendant asks, in surprise, whether I’ll be spending the night at the airport. He spends a few minutes looking into the flight that leaves for Toronto in an hour, but economy is booked up and I’m not willing to pay more.
I can go into the city, but I have a bulky carry on, no energy to roam in a new city at night and no money in the budget for a hostel. I’m not keep on the hassle of travelling between airport and accommodation, either.
How do you spend 12 hours at Philadelphia airport?
- Walk. Don’t take the escalators. Philly’s airport floors make it easy to slip into the role of Jack Nicholson’s Melvin: you can avoid all the black lines, skipping through the airport if your carry-on luggage isn’t too heavy.
- Find a restaurant with comfortable seating and a good selection of brews – if you’re paying airport prices, make sure you’re paying for flavour, IBUs and alcohol content that will give you the buzz you need to make time at the airport irrelevant. Philly Airport has several nice places to eat, both healthy and unhealthy, light and heavy.
- At the end o
f the day, with the night ahead, I opt for a big meal that’s likely to cause a food coma, and make is easier to fall asleep despite the uncomfortable seating that my body may have to conform to. I settle on a modern place with a selection of local Philly brews, several options for pescetarians and a tablet at each station which lets me play games – I lose each game I play, but talk myself into believing that I’m banking winning points I can redeem in the 10 hours left at the airport. - It’s a good idea to step into one of these restaurants an hour before they close. Minutes after I order, the businessmen who swig their poison before getting on their late night flight vacate, leaving the entire restaurant to me. With the clients gone, the workers relax; they set to cleaning, cracking jokes, sending and catching smiles. I sit at the bar and eavesdrop on the fun, joining in now and again.
- At the end o
f the day, with the night ahead, I opt for a big meal that’s likely to cause a food coma, and make is easier to fall asleep despite the uncomfortable seating that my body may have to conform to. I settle on a modern place with a selection of local Philly brews, several options for pescetarians and a tablet at each station which lets me play games – I lose each game I play, but talk myself into believing that I’m banking winning points I can redeem in the 10 hours left at the airport.- With a little buzz and a full stomach, set off on a stroll. Examine the various sleeping options, and enjoy Philly airport. It’s full of art displays, along with detailed guides. It’s easy to pretend that you’re a VIP at an art gallery, after hours, roaming from installation to painting to film poster. I get on a moving-walkway and slowly float by a wall of film posters that display movies shot in Philadelphia. In my mind a soundtrack begins to play, and I imagine I am in the film…a quiet airport…a traveller making her way home…then I see the ‘Rocky’ poster and I am, “back on my feet, just a [woman] and [her] will to survive.” Energized, I stroll on. I find an art installation that mimics a beach and has a little free library. I sit and peruse through the books. Of course, I have come prepared with my own reading material, an audiobook and many hours of music (I find Little Dragon and Dido are perfect travelling companions for this trip)
- Finding sleep:
- Make sure you’re in a place without a draft. At nights, once all the shops close, the warm bodies get on the flights, the air is free to play in the wide, expansive corridors of the airport. Airports are cold places at night, and unless you come prepared with a sleeping bag or big jacket to keep your feet covered, you’ll be chilled.
- Layer.
- It’s best to find a place that can’t accommodate too many sleepers. You can learn to tolerate the snoring and other sleeping sounds of a loved one, or you at least know what to expect if you wake them up or attempt to roll them over; dealing with loud snoring of strangers is difficult. I get frustrated; my frustration leads to me imagining all kinds of scenarios where my superhero strength stops snoring forever; I rowse myself to a state where all I hear is the snoring, amplified by a thousand and any chance of falling asleep fleets into the abyss. Groggily, I have to trudge the airport for another space to sleep, another chair to warm with my body before it can warm me.
- Find a place where you can stretch your legs. Armchairs at airports can be comfortable, but you want the chance to hang your feet off of them once in awhile.
- If possible, make a comfy bed by moving two armchairs into a bed. You can snuggle in, while the armrests act as an extra garrison that keep the chill and draft away.
- Be courteous. Take off your shoes if you’ll be putting your feet on the furniture. I’ve never woken up at an airport to find my shoes have been stolen. They’re always waiting for the warmth of my feet to slide back into them in the morning.
- Soft luggage vs the suitcase on wheels:
- Soft luggage can easily transform into a pillow.
- Soft luggage can be shaped to curve out the edgy airport furniture, making it easier to curl up and let your back and neck have some kind of support making it easier for you to fool yourself that you are indeed comfortable. You’re more likely to snooze, though you’ll still likely wake up with an achy something.
- Soft luggage can be carried on one shoulder, then the other, then slung across your body. It’s a mundane type of variety, but any kind of variety is helpful.
- If you’re awake, smile. The night workers at Philly airport are a smiley and friendly lot, despite it being a pretty gloomy morning outside. By now it’s 3am. They should be home asleep rather than polishing the airport floors. Their smiles come, no doubt, from being able to zoom in the airport buggy without swerving and stopping for mopey travellers. They can speed, if only a little, down the long, empty stretches of the airport. So they smile and shout hellos as they zoom by. Some even stop by for a little chat.