For many of us, getting flustered at the airport is part and parcel of vacation life, but there is another way, and it’s far less likely to end in a heart attack before you’ve even hit that all-inclusive buffet. You simply need to get organised to ensure smooth, stress-free airport visits guaranteed, meaning that instead of waiting until you’re on the plane to breathe that sigh of relief, you can get in the vacation zone the moment you knock off work. Even better, making that possible is as simple as following these pointers from the moment you set foot on that shiny airport flooring.
# 1 – Keep your paperwork in a separate folder
We’ve all been trapped at the gate behind people who have had to empty their luggage before finding their passports, visas, and so on. Heck, we’ve all been those people who have had to empty their luggage at some stage, but it’s madness. Everyone knows that they need their paperwork before they can board a plane! With this simple but surprisingly overlooked fact in mind, take steps to get paperwork well and truly in order before you’ve even considered packing or setting off. Most obviously, this means applying for passports or seeking visas with the help of immigration lawyers well in advance of your trip. Once you have all the paperwork you need, invest in either a simple clear file folder or a specified travel wallet that you can keep to hand and whip out like a totally stress-free ninja in seconds whenever someone asks to see your boarding pass.
# 2 – Always arrive early
While mad dashes to an already-closed boarding gate might be a prerequisite of every great film, there’s absolutely nothing fun about doing this for your trip. In fact, as well as a world of stress, leaving your airport departure until the last minute is at very real risk of seeing your trip cancelled. To save yourself the hassle, arrive at least two hours early every single time. It’s a small thing, but it’s the difference between looking like a chilled Johnny Depp in that Blow airport scene or Ross during the Friends finale.
# 3 – Get your hand luggage security ready
Security is perhaps the most stressful part of any airport experience and, to add fuel to the fire, an astounding amount of us have to quickly empty our liquids or find plastic bags to store them in when we’re already in the queue. To avoid this last-minute dash and the high blood pressure that comes with it, it’s essential to simply get your hand luggage security-ready while you’re packing it by removing or bagging liquids, and eliminating any forbidden items. This small packing hack can half the time you waste at security, as well as ensuring that you’re cool as a cucumber when you finally stroll to that much-coveted airport bar.
Stress-free airport trips are possible, and it’s down to you to implement these hacks to make sure that they don’t take off without you!