9 Things To Do (And More) On A Layover

Have a swim at the airport pool, visit the butterfly sanctuary or go for a ride on the giant slide .... at least at Changi.

Sketch! I love to do pencil sketches of the places I've visited. Other times, I just do still life drawings. A small sketch pad, some pencils, a sharpener and an eraser take little room. Sometimes I even carry colored pencils.

Seattle offers live performances seven days a week throughout the airport. I really enjoy listening to the variety of music, plus it's great for walking around the airport for some exercise before or between flights.

Nashville also offers singers and musicians in the airport's rush hours.

The airport has great local restaurants and bars--some of which have live entertainment in late afternoon.

Carrying board games (even travel versions), yoga mats and sweats, and musical instruments seems to fly in the face of packing light. I am usually happy just people-watching or hopping onto the internet.

Some of the ways I pass the time on layovers.....

• Talk to other travellers.
• Take pictures if something looks interesting.
• As most airports have Wi-Fi these days, catch up on E-mail or surf the net.
• As mentioned earlier, sleep (although those plastic chairs are not ideal).

And here is one more thing ..... pray. At Heathrow once I saw a group of Muslims going to Mecca for their Haj. They all had on those white toga-looking things which looked like large bath towels to me, and at a certain time they took out their prayer mats and prayed. Then they all sat on the floor and had a picnic from the food containers they had brought along. Great people watching that day!

My first flight usually leaves in the late morning, so I usually get lunch at the layover airport. Then I walk around for awhile, then go to read or play on my phone/tablet. If I was by the person who brought an instrument and started playing it, I would probably go find a seat in another part of the airport! I always think about leaving the airport to see the city, but even when I have 4 or 5 hours I don't feel like I have enough time.

I recently experienced 3 days worth of weather delays leading to innumerable hours in the SLC airport. I am not sure how anyone could possibly jog in an airport! I did, however, manage to spend money on a FitBit, have the Brookstone store manager (he was bored!) help me set it up and download the app to my phone then get nearly 10,000 steps in on each day. At some points even walking against the herd of deplaning passengers was tough much less trying to jog.

I guess reading my Kindle is too mundane to make the list but that is what I do as well. I did learn years ago not to let myself get too drawn in to a book as I almost missed a plane that way!

Interesting comment about anarchist tear-drop tatoos. I thought they signified how many kills the person had. But heaven knows I am not the target audience for the message.

PS You can't eat like a King/Queen in SLC.

I love to sit on a toilet until it's time to board the next flight. Much cheaper than shopping at overpriced airport establishments.

To each his own.

Thank you, Roberto. That can go on the list right after praying.

I try to plan my lay-overs to be from 2-3 hours, ideally, and once I've freshened up and through with any official dealings I find coffee and a snack and a quiet spot to sit. Sometimes I knit but usually just read. I do love to stop in Frankfurt as they have an excellent book shop that seems to have paperback editions sooner than we get them in the US.

Some airports are so close to their respective cities, that one can actually plan on having a long layover so that you can visit the city too. Frankfurt for example, is only 11 min. away by train from the airport. Amsterdam is close. Munich not so much, but if your layover is long enough, you can head to the city or one of the surrounding towns. Berlin is not that far from the airport. I am sure there are many others. A layover of 5 hours or more would be sufficient to visit and explore Frankfurt for an hour or two.

Many airports have chapels/Synagogues/Mosques. You can also go take a shower, get a massage, pay to use a lounge and take a nap, eat free food, or go on an airport tour.