Top 5 Coping Strategies When You’re Stuck at The Aiport

Top 5 Coping Strategies When You’re Stuck at The Aiport

You know that feeling of ridiculous anger, frustration, and annoyance when you’re sitting at the airport for what feels like a lifetime and the airline keeps pushing your flight back? This has probably happened to most of us at one point or another. As a matter of fact, I’m writing this while sitting at the airport in Stuttgart, Germany for the past 28 HOURS (no, I am not kidding right now :D) and I am slowly feeling a certain amount of bad mood creeping up on me. While I’m sitting here, there is an endless amount of people getting angry or loud ( although I know I’m in Germany so that probably doesn’t help :D) My personal favorites, however, are the people making stupid and unhelpful comments that are not just untrue but honestly just not very intelligent (yes Herbert, the airline is definitely doing this on purpose to ruin your holidays :D).

Now, I know that most of us are looking forward to their vacation for a rather long time and to put it simply: THIS f****** SUCKS!

But, like I always like to say, there’s always SOMETHING positive to every situation (although this one is a rather though one). Since I know it’s really not easy to stay positive while this happens, you can try these 5 Coping mechanisms that didn’t only help me but were also somewhat entertaining and fun for the people I traveled with.

1. Make the most of your time

No, I’m not kidding and I know this one sounds rather obvious and dull. But honestly, look at it this way. You’re gonna be stuck there for at least a couple of hours anyway so you might as well make the most of it. What would you be doing with all this time if you were at home right now? Would you watch Netflix or go to the gym? Or would you get something nice to eat or just read a book and relax?

These are all things that you can easily do at the airport as well. Watch whatever you want on Netflix using your phone. Start walking around and get as many steps in as possible. Go check out a new restaurant and try something you’ve never eaten before or just enjoy a nice glass of wine (or in my case, beer). Start reading that book that you wanted to start reading at the beach.  It’s easy to be annoyed and focus on the bad stuff. Trust me, I would rather be at the beach or exploring an awesome new City right now as well but this doesn’t have to suck (as much). We tend to take an extra three or four hours for granted (or in my case 28), but this is honestly time you can use to try new things, learn something new or do something productive.

2. Meet new people

Ok, this one might not be for everyone but you literally have a plane full of people to talk to. Now I know that it’s not always easy to talk to strangers and sometimes you honestly just can’t be bothered and that’s ok as well. But if you do feel like it, this is probably one of the easiest situations to start a conversation with someone because most people like to vent and get their anger out. Once that is done, you can easily start changing the topic and take your minds off the miserable situation you guys find yourself in. You might even find that that rude looking girl is actually rather funny or that Herbert (no, I didn’t forget him yet) is actually a rather nice man that’s got a couple good jokes in him once he stops saying dumb stuff).

3. Imagine what could have happened instead 

Now, this is a somewhat abstract coping mechanism but it actually works for me. Imagine if they didn’t find the technical Problem on the plane or they didn’t take that storm serious enough. Actually, imagine being up in the air and something going very wrong. Trust me, I know this may seem dumb to some of you, put for me, it puts things into perspective. It honestly sucks to lose a vacation day but just imagine the things that could have seriously gone wrong. I do make a conscious decision to rather focus on the fact that nothing bad happened instead of wasting my energy on the fact that I’m not at my destination yet.

4. Get a tiny bit drunk (but please don’t take it too far cause they won’t let you board your flight)

This is probably the most fun coping mechanism and I know I giggled my way through a couple hours of waiting and drinking. I know that drinks can be rather expensive at airports, but would you honestly consider getting yet another beer at a night out because it’s somewhat expensive? I don’t know about you guys but I don’t. I rather remember the fun night/day I had.  I’m not saying get blind drunk but I am definitely saying that beer or alcohol, in general, has the tendency and ability to make boring situations a bit more fun.

5. Sleep

Another obvious one but also one that can be pretty nice. Most of us are waaaay too tired anyway and don’t have enough time to take naps or sleep in as often as we like. I know that airports can be veeery uncomfortable, but there are usually a couple spots that can be made cozy and nice, even if that means using your bag as a pillow. I also like to carry a thin towel with me that I use as a blanket. Again, it’s easy to focus on the bad stuff but you could also look at the situation as a free pass to take a nap and that is definitely pretty nice.

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