Many of us have been there, been stuck at an airport. Time may go faster when your travelling in twos or threes, But how do I deal with it when it's just me ?
Please read with humorous lighthearted sarcasm, the following first world problem was written with almost no amount of sleep;
Making the best of it when waiting at an airport can be a challenge, hours need to role by, you're rolling your thumbs, spend time staring at things right in-front if you, after which looking at your phone hoping 50 minutes past by, only to realise its been 14 minutes. I've been here since 6:30 am, an hour before I needed to be, so that I could take the journey to a finish with my friend who I will now depart ways with. A last chat over a cup of coffee at Pauls here at Faro airport was all worth it, but now with a delay from a 10:15 departure turned to 12:00, turned to 12:50 I have a lot of thumb rolling to do. No working Wifi, a small airport under construction with a lot of spots looking like a last minute christmas wrapping Im finding it difficult to pass my time.
I though I should take you on a little tour of this situation that many of us have been in before. Hold on to your hats. I started by (as you often do travelling alone) to walk up and down, left and right where possible, getting to know my surroundings, that took me about 22 minutes,
I ate a pear I had in my bag, went in to the ladies to put some really non needed but time well spent make-up on my tired face (there are apparently many ways to mess up and re-do a mascara) spending another 20 minutes. I ate a tomato and one of my sandwiches, weighed my luggage for fun, found out that a pear + tomato + a small sandwich weighs around 300 grams, since thats how much lighter it was compared to the first time I checked the weight for entertainment.
Next I walked all the way to the Other Side of the airport prior to security, visited the ladies over there, realized it looked nothing like the last one (totally different !), got all exited and washed my hands.
I flicked through a british newspaper about events in Portugal. Learned that flowertrees need to be trimmed this time of year and that a tow-truck damaged 5 cars after which I could finally check in. I past through security in about 10 minutes. Got a 6 euros meal voucher from the airlines as an apology for the delay. Another 3 hours to go. I took some time to carefully chose between standing over at Burger King or Subway, but chose to go with Costa Coffee since they had seating and I really didnt feel like a 3rd sandwich since 5 am.
.. So here I am, at a chair in Costa, surrounded by all languages and cultures, (okay mostly Britons) thinking, and probably visiting a new toilet soon again. My chocolate muffin is half eaten and young families reminding me of what I someday want to have, then all the screaming, slapping and burger pickles on the floor bring me back to earth. I have it good where I am, I'm right where I need to be. There will be much time spent looking for you under tables.
It's actually quite okay to do this alone, no matter how sad it may sound, look, or, well.. feel...about every 11 minutes or so. It may be the singletons half ´deep mindful understanding´ and half lie I tell myself for the 3rd year in a row, but the truth (and inevitable reality) is that I learn to have fun on my own,
I find that quite important, you need to learn to be your own entertainment, best friend and knock knock whos there person.
You're the one who will always be there with you, so learn to enjoy the company of that person. and once you can, I bet you someone else will too, together you can then laugh at the things the little ones did at the security gate, travel just the two of you together or depart ways which each of your group of mates.
Learn to Love the company of You <3
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