The other day, I flew from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Cairo, Egypt on Qatar Airways. My trip involved an 8-hour layover at Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha, Qatar. Eight hours can be an awfully long time to hang around an airport – even an airport as nice as DOH, which just opened earlier this year! Luckily, Qatar Airways runs a neat program that allows travelers with layovers of longer than 5 hours to take a free tour of Doha.
Our short jaunt in Doha sandwiched between our destinations of Addis Ababa and Cairo got me thinking about layovers in general. Most travelers have endured a long layover at one point or another, and these layovers are usually synonymous with boredom and annoyance.
But what if, rather than sitting around the gate or the airport bar, flipping through a gossip magazine or using our phones to scroll through our Facebook and Twitter feeds, we made the most of our layovers? We could banish boredom and annoyance and reach our ultimate destinations feeling more engaged and alive!
Get out of the airport.
If you have a long layover, try to get out of the airport. You don’t need an established airline program like the Qatar Airways Doha City Tour to use your layover to visit a new city – I have, at other times, independently toured London and Seoul during a long layover. All you need is a bit of foresight and a plan: consult guidebooks and the internet to determine how long it will take to get back and forth to the airport, consider how much time you will need to get through security and/or immigration, and decide what you can realistically see. Cities with public transportation running to the airport are usually the best candidates for this type of trip, as public transportation is usually more predictable than taking a cab through unfamiliar traffic.
Or just walk around the airport.
Even if you don’t have the time to leave the airport, you can still walk around the terminal. Layovers are a perfect opportunity to stretch your legs and get a little exercise between flights, and airports are amazing places for people-watching. Grab your carry-on and take a walk through the airport, checking out the various destinations as you go.
Take the time to hydrate!
Hydration is always important, and it can be even more so when you are traveling by air. The pressurized air on the inside of airplanes pulls moisture from your skin and leaves you dehydrated, a problem that is compounded by the fact that most of us don’t drink enough water while traveling. Once we surrender our water bottles to the TSA, we often don’t replenish by purchasing the expensive post-security bottles, and the small cups that are distributed on flights are hardly enough water. Almost all airports have water fountains, so make sure to use your layover to take the time to hydrate! (But remember, if you are traveling internationally to an area where the water may not be potable, bottled water is your best bet.)
Image credit: Magdalena Roeseler