How to Pass the Time During a Long Layover

*Originally published on 5/9/11



Traveling is a hassle, traveling via air even more so. It's especially hectic when you're flying somewhere farther away, which requires multiple flights. When flying home for the holidays, I find that my connecting flights are either really close together or really far apart. An hour may seem like plenty of time, but if you connect at a major airport, it will barely be enough time to make it. Being paranoid about missing flights, I try to go for the longer layovers, which usually run about three hours, though sometimes you will get stuck waiting even longer.

Three hours may seem bearable, but when you make it to the terminal quickly, you find that you have a lot of time on your hands. As such, it is necessary to try and keep yourself occupied.

Get your snack on

Most airports, often times even the smaller ones, have a variety of food chains located in the building. Usually, it's just fast food restaurants, but sometimes you can find an airport with a "bar and grill" type restaurant. Even if there's just a pretzel stand like Auntie Anne's or a Dairy Queen, you'll want to take advantage of it and grab some grub.

Traveling is tiring and can often be an all day endeavor. As such, you're going to get hungry and it's best to take care of it while you're on the ground. Some flights offer meals, but more often than not, it's drinks only. So grabbing something to eat, even if it does boil down to a snack, will save you a bit of discomfort down the line as your stomach won't run on empty.

If there is a full restaurant available, and if you have time to kill, I would suggest going to one of these. It's a bit more comfortable and you can chew up some more time. Of course, you don't want to spend too much time in the restaurant, lest you fail to make it, but if you time it right, you can enjoy a restaurant quality meal while you wait.

Things to read

The most common way to pass the time during a layover is to read. You can usually find a bookstore or a magazine stand in the building, but I prefer to have my own books with me when I travel. It doesn't cost you anything, for one, and it can also give you something to do on your initial flight as well as in the airport between flights.

If you have a Kindle or other e-book device, that will certainly come in handy, though you'll want to have the charger on hand in case the battery starts to die down.

Even if I do have my Kindle on hand, I try to keep a "real" book on hand just as a back up.

Music to soothe the savage beast

While reading is all well and good, I find that I often need music to accompany me as well. Maybe it's just that the chairs aren't as comfortable as the ones at home, but I find that reading for extensive periods of time while at the airport just makes me more stir crazy.

An MP3 player can often go a long way to help things move along quicker. You can listen while you read, or you can just relax and listen to the music on its own accord. It's rather versatile that way.

Another option is to, sort of, combine the two by loading an audiobook onto your mp3 player before you leave. With the right work, you'll find that the time goes by in no...time.

With the spread of podcasts, several people have started up their own "radio drama" style broadcasts. If you're a fan of the medium, you can download episodes of various series off the web and load those onto your mp3 player as well.

If you do decide to listen to something, it is preferable to have headphones with you. It's common courtesy. If your music is on your phone than you might be able to get away with listening to songs on that, provided there's nothing too vulgar or racy, but if you can keep what you're listening to to yourself, the other passengers will appreciate it.

Bring a computer

This is another thing that can help you pass the time. Nowadays, pretty much everyone travels with a laptop or netbook. This works out as it provides you with the most options. With music going digital, you can load up your song library and listen while you wait. A lot of people load movies or TV shows onto their computers as well, which can also keep your mind occupied while you wait.

There is, of course, the internet, but I find that airport wi-fi is very hit or miss. Oddly enough, the big airports don't seem to have very good service, or use wi-fi that requires you to sign up; whereas smaller airports with wi-fi let you get online with little hassle.

If you're a gamer, than having a computer also lets you use that as a way to pass the time. These come in handy when you can't get internet access as you can only play so many games of Freecell and Solitaire before it gets repetitive.

If you're a workaholic, you can also use the time to get some business related matters done. I, sometimes, find it hard to write in an airport or on a plane, but occasionally, the mood strikes me and I find it helps to have it on hand.

The one downside to relying on gadgets is that you need to lug around all of the appropriate chargers. You also have to try and situate yourself near an outlet. Most airports have several available, but if its busy, they might already be taken up. You can also take the added measure of charging up all of your gadgets the night before you leave so that everything has a full battery. If you do this, just remember to pack all of the devices, as well as the chargers. You'd hate to find that you left something after checking in and getting past security.

A lot of people use the layover as a chance to sleep. If you find that you can doze off in an airport (I, for one, never could), than by all means, feel free to do so. Just make sure that you have some sort of alarm set. It would be quite bad if you slept through the boarding of your flight. If you're with others, it's moot. Also, you might have a hard time not waking up as the loudspeakers can get...loud, but if you're a heavy sleeper, it's best to keep that risk in mind.

You'll definitely want a place to sit down. Standing for that long gets rather uncomfortable. If there are no chairs, than find a spot on the floor, outside the main walkways. Odds are that another flight is boarding before yours so you can wait for them to depart and take one of the newly opened chairs for yourself.

Traveling is indeed a hassle, and layovers don't really help. While it may not be time ideally spent, you can make it a bit easier by keeping yourself occupied and using that time to partake in something you enjoy. As the old saying goes, time flies when you're having fun. Considering that you're waiting at an airport, the expression becomes that much more appropriate.