Dubrovnik Map

Airports. Flying. Hotels.

We are meant to despise all of them . But I love them all – all three are fantastic travel experiences. Here’s why.

Airports.

Are exciting places. You can always feel the great variety of human emotions swirling through them. Whenever I’m in one I’m always going somewhere interesting, going home or with somebody who is doing one of these. So there is always some kind of significant emotion happening.

I love the departure lounge, the feeling of anticipation. I love going through customs. Shopping for duty free. Crying and waving goodbye. Though I’m totally with Douglas Adams, the author who once wrote “It is not by accident that no culture on Earth has ever come up the phrase ‘as pretty as an airport’”.

Flying

Is amazing. To begin with, every time you fly you do something every single person who ever lived before 1900 dreamed of doing but couldn’t. Think about that – Da Vinci, Caesar, Shakespeare, Newton – people who accomplished phenomonal things. All would have given much to have experienced what exhausted businessmen complain about.

Anyway flying is fun. You get enforced shut off from the world so you can sit there and read, write, watch films, play games, think or whatever without distractions. How often do you get the chance outside of flying. Stewards bring free food and drink to you. Great little meals inside cute little compartments.

You get phenomenal views outside your window. You get to travel to the other side of the globe. Or a city near you. Very quickly.

Hotels

Hotels are cool. You get a perfectly made up room. And its uncluttered. You get to feel excited as you unpack.

Weird things in hotels are fun. The tight bedsheets. The folded arrow shape on the toilet paper. The long and trippy hallways.

The reason we travel is to experience things anew, to feel fresh and alive. Whether its a resort, a backpacker hostel or something else. We travel for the experience. All of it. Even the bits we are meant to hate.

You don’t want to travel across the globe for fun, only to have jet lag get in the way. I’ve had a share of this kill-joy of a jet lag myself. But I’ve learned to control it, at least to some extent. Make sure you make use of the lessons that I had to learn the hard way.

Get that much-needed rest.

Your fight against jet lag should begin even before you get on that plane. You should put off any plans that include drinking the night before your flight. You want to be well rested. This will keep your body fit and ready to give jet lag a good fight. Getting dehydrated from alcohol and having a hangover will make the long flight even more unbearable.

Make sure that you keep yourself well-hydrated.

This is especially necessary if your destination is in one of those higher altitudes. And do try to stay away from alcohol, at least while you are still trying to get used to the new and drier surroundings. Alcohol works great at dehydrating your system. And this is the last thing you need when you are fighting off a nagging jet lag.

Get good sleep.

Make sure you get enough sleep. You need energy. That is, if you wish to get the best out of the trip. You will only truly get the best out of the trip if your body is up to it. So be ready with those earplugs and take advantage of the long trips. They are a good time to steal some much-needed sleep.

Relax.

Make sure you leave your worries at home. They’re great at making jet lag worse. If anything, you must stop worrying about whether you’ve turned off the faucet or not, or if you’ve locked all the doors. And stop thinking about stressful thoughts about work. This is a good time to make use of relaxation techniques. A simple breathing exercise should suffice.

Manage your time.

And make sure that you manage your time well. You don’t want to mess up your itinerary with late arrivals. Make sure you’re ready with wrld time clocks. You want something that tells the time zone for key cities across the clocks. I have one of my own and it’s been useful. My obsession over keeping up with time paid off. If you see my unique wall clocks at home, you’d think I’m a freak. They come in handy though.
Don’t forget to have fun!