A Time to Kill

After once spending over 6 hours at Heathrow Airport in London I was quite glad to find this little article entitled "Eight Ways to Kill Time in an Airport" One would think that being in Europe's busiest airport would be far from boring but alas an airport is still an airport!

http://travel.sympatico.msn.ca/robinesrock/articles/airports.htm?&pagenumber=1

Nothing ground-breaking here but still it's good to remember for next time.

1) Talk - Simply turn to the nearest person and ask: “Do you feel like talking to a complete stranger because my eyes are glazing over and I’m starting to lose consciousness from boredom.”

2) Shop - The trick here is to not actually buy anything. Kill time, save money. Wander from shop to shop.

3) Look - People watching is always fun, all it takes is a little imagination. Simply look around, choose a person, and create their personal history.

4) Write - In our digital age we forget the romantic, somewhat exotic thrill of receiving a postcard from foreign (or even domestic) shores. Pick up a postcard and write.

5) Hunt - We spend our hours hunting to kill time. Things to hunt for: free wireless signals, bargains, romantic partners, a free plug to charge your laptop or cell phone (note to airports: install some plugs so we don’t have to unplug the vending machines). Hunt for a stretch of floor to sleep on, a clean toilet, a charity bucket to deposit useless foreign coins, a shop that sells toothpaste since yours was confiscated at security!

6) Read - If you don’t have a good book head over to the bookstore for your own private library. It takes a pretty arrogant airport to demand you buy something first and it's easy to kill an hour or two reading.

7) Eat - According to some traditions each bite of your meal should be chewed a dozen times to truly access all the nutritional value and taste. Stretch that burger and fries and savour every speck of spice.

8) Stretch - There’s more to stretching than just pointing to opposite walls when you get out of bed. Frequent travellers should develop a stretching routine. Find a piece of space and bend your body, twist your spine, crack those knuckles.