Flying Off On Holiday?
Window shopping for holidays is a wonderfully decadent, warming experience, offering all that we can ask for and more in page after page of idyllic looking pleasure. Then there is the romance of flying.
Romance and flying began to disentangle from each other in the late 1960’s, with the first cheap flights and package holidays offering affordable holidays abroad to everyone. Well, in most relationships the romance dies, and in this case, this where it started here.
Today, the wealthy few who can afford first class flying can still find a little of it, but for the majority of us, the airport experience can be enough to dull the ardour of any traveller looking for something from ’50’s or ‘60’s travel posters.
The airport experience can the biggest stumbling block of all in trying to create an enjoyable trip. For most it will be expensive to get to, confusing, irritating, crowded and above all, stressful, there are however a few tips that can take the sting out of the airport experience.
Take a look at regional airports which may be surprisingly close time-wise, without large conurbations in the way. Airports as diverse as Bournemouth or Bristol, Norwich or Newcastle, Exeter or Inverness, could offer more convenient and more reasonably priced parking, shorter check in queues, shorter distances between airside and gate.
Avoiding the major airports of the southeast such as Gatwick, Heathrow, Stanstead and particularly Luton, with its outrageously overpriced facilities tariffs, may lead to a quieter, quicker, more user friendly experience.
Long haul destinations, particularly heading Easterly, can be picked up easily by flying from a regional to a hub airport such as Schiphol or Charles De Gaulle, and other countries airports do not necessarily mean a repeat of the UK experience.
Having made online check-in possible for many of us has helped to reduce check-in queueing for everyone who has to check baggage in, as those with only hand luggage can go straight to security.
Since the events of 9/11 security at airports has become a necessary undertaking for everyone, but it doesn’t have to be the queueing, cattle prodding process it has become. It is possible, at a cost, currently between £4 and £5 to use the fast track, but which takes little time at all.
In the bustling crowded departure lounge, the tip is, keep your purse or wallet closed. There are shops and boutiques selling high priced items, that, for the most part you didn’t need yesterday, so you probably don’t today.