AIRBORNE

Aside from the lack of room service, messy dorms and finals another awful part
about college is travelling solo. I don’t know about you, but I hate travelling
alone. I love having a travelling companion who will guide me as to where to
go next at the airport and just someone to talk to and complain to on that long
flight journey.

I have never travelled such a long distance alone so safe to say, my parents
were scared out of their wits. I couldn't exactly reassure them either because if
anything, I was equally nervous. I knew next to nothing about the on goings of
the airport because I never pay attention!

However, I knew I had to do it. So first I watched an entire video about the
various steps, then my dad messaged me an entire list of instructions (this is
not a necessary step) and packed a lot of home food and fun stuff to keep
myself entertained.

Make sure your phone is fully charged and even carry a power bank, better to
be safe than sorry. Reach the airport a minimum of 3 hours early to avoid the
annoyingly long lines. Also, don’t be embarrassed to ask for directions, it’s
better than ending up on a flight back home or something. Most people at
the airport are pretty friendly, it’s okay to ask the passengers too but some of
them could be equally lost, so best to ask the staff.

A lot of airports can be very tempting and it’s easy to get swayed away but
leave shopping to when you reach your gate number. See the boarding time
and only go shopping if you have at least an hour. Try not to go too far if you’re
like me and awful at directions because it’s easy to get lost. Another thing, try
flying through the same airline, as frequent fliers have upgrades and everything
and choose a flight which divides its hours well like Lufthansa which is 8 and a
half hours for each trip instead of a flight that has you stay in for 12 hours.
Moreover, try choosing one with the shortest layover, nobody wants to spend
8 hours at an airport all by themselves.

Another important thing to remember is that when you land, Uber/Lyft have
separate pick up spots which are pretty far from the airport. So make sure you
have all of your warm gear, especially gloves because I did not know this and
my hands froze to the extent that they hurt so much, I had tears in my eyes. I
would have cried had my tears not frozen over.

But just be prepared. It’s always good to pay attention when travelling with
someone else but if not, it’s always better to ask and confirm, especially when
it’s a connecting flight because those can be particularly tricky. But don’t
worry, if someone as easily distracted and unfocused can do it, I think anyone
can. It’s always better to have a travel buddy but sometimes all we got is
ourselves. Who knows who you may end up meeting on the flight though, so
everything is an opportunity.