Some people don’t understand how one finds him/herself in a situation like that. Well for the most part when you are backpacking and just winging it, yes it can happen. What I mean by winging it, with no complete travel plans. For example, if you reach a destination and find out all the hostels are booked for the night, what do you do? As a backpacker you want to save money and keep everything on a tight budget, so the next option is the airport or train/station. It also depends where you are located too. If you are in the middle of the city and the airport is to far, well looks like the train station is the best option. You maybe thinking, wow that is crazy I would never do that. The funny part is most backpackers actually do. You probably will find a few of your follow backpackers doing just the same thing that night too.

Yet, there could be times where you are in a city where the train station at night locks up and so does the airport. As a result, this happened to me a few times and a park bench was the next option. Yes, maybe I could have done a hotel, but traveling for a year I wanted to save money. Now mind you, I was usually with someone, even though I was traveling solo, so it didn’t feel as scary. These circumstances will happen and you need to figure your next place quickly too. Once you start backpacking it may seems strange to you at first, but once you get in the routine of it all, well let’s just say it becomes second nature.

Backpacking is all about the experiences you encounter and how you make of them. Yet try to always arrange a hostel during peak season or know where your hostel is located, but also have another plan in case all fails.

Photo Credit: www.daninjapan.com

From personal experience, I learned that there is no point to get frustrated when these type of unplanned events occur. On my way to Ushuaia, Argentina a few years back, my overnight flight from Chicago to Buenos Aires got delayed until the next morning due to technical issues. We were given hotel vouchers but many flights were also delayed because of the weather and it was impossible to get on a shuttle to the hotel. Since we had already left the secured area and it was past midnight, they wouldn’t let us back in to the gates section. We spent the entire night sleeping on a chair in Chicago O’Hare Airport. I had a cold at the time, I was freezing and beyond annoyed. Not to forget to mention that we were also missing our flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, which was booked as a completely different leg of the trip. Another instance, I was poor so my flight from Rome to London landed around 1am but my flight London-Montreal was only leaving the next day at 4pm. I couldn’t afford a hotel so I slept in the Airport. On my way back from Brazil last winter, my flight from Salvador-Sao Paolo was delayed so I missed my flight from Sao Paolo to NYC and I was stuck on standby hoping to get on the next flight to North America as soon as possible.

All this to say that if you travel a lot, you’ll eventually get stuck in an airport! How did I cope with it? Well, at first, I had lots of frustration. But through experiences, I learned to better plan my travels.

1. Plan the unplanned. Expect flight delays. If you’re traveling during the winter season, it’s most likely going to happen. What’s the best way to cope with it? Be prepared. Always keep your toothbrush, a change of clothes, earplugs and some snacks and magazines on your carry on.
2. Give yourself a buffer.  If that’s the case, don’t plan to arrive at your destination on a Monday for example and then start a tour on the Tuesday. Your flight can be delayed, the airline can lose your luggage or you may arrive to your destination sick or exhausted. The best way to avoid being stressed about a delayed flight is to minimize the impact that flight has on your plans. Consider leaving a one or two-day buffer between your arrival and the beginning of a tour if any.
3. Don’t stress. If you do miss a flight or if you’re stuck sleeping in an airport, it’s no big deal. Don’t be annoyed and anxious about it, it won’t change anything! Accept it and move on. Some airports, such as Chicago O’Hare actually have cots for stranded passengers. In Heathrow for example, you’ll find areas of backpackers sleeping so consider sleeping next to other people to avoid being alone.

If  you have a good memory, you’ll remember that the London metro bombings took place on July 5 of 2005. To my luck, my flight back home was departing from London at the end of July 2005. Being in Rome at the time, I headed to Fiumicino airport stress-free and excited to go home. Right before boarding the plane, I was asked to stay aside and wait. So that’s exactly what I did. And I waited. And waited. Until a security guard approached me and searched me. As a solo female flyer, I found it a little odd but didn’t think anything of it when they searched me. My flight finally arrived in London at 1Am. Tired and poor, I resorted to sleeping in Heathrow Airport. I’ve slept in a few airports in the past, and let me tell you that it’s no fun. But when you’re broke, you’re broke! So I found a spot where a few other backpackers were also sleeping,  layed my backpack on the floor and slowly fell asleep. Believe it or not, I fell asleep for a few hours, or until I suddenly got woken up. Until I suddenly woke up to the sounds of an unattended luggage placed only a few meters away from me. Half asleep, half lost, I was asked to evacuate the airport and wait outside.

Alone with thousands more people to my side, I was annoyed. Annoyed because not only was I tired, but I still had 8 more hours to wait at the airport and I simply wanted to go home. Go home to my bed, to my shower, to my family and friends! Standing outside of the airport, by myself with all these thoughts going through my head, I felt like crying! But, I quickly made myself get over it. After about 30 minutes of standing outside, we were given the green light to enter the airport yet again. It was a false alarm. Fiew!

So once I entered the airport again, I couldn’t go back to sleep. I wandered around the airport, ate, wandered around some more, read… until all 8 hours passed! And finally, the time for me had arrived to check in my luggage. So that’s exactly what I did. And waited a little more. Waited until it was time to board the plane. Excited to finally be boarding the plane, knowing I was now only 6 hours away from home! But again, I was asked to get on the side. I found this really odd. And couldn’t understand why I kept on getting searched. Until I realized it was because  I was tanned. Was this a case of discrimination or simply security? I’m not sure. But I just wanted to go home!  

John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City

This airport back in the day, was actually beautiful and modern, but as for today’s designs this airport is gracefully going down hill. Passengers are greeted with endless blank corridors and completely unclear in any sense of direction. Yet, Terminal 1 seems to be alright compared to the  other terminals.

Sheremetyevo International Airport, Moscow

During the summer, 1980 Olympics this airport was completed as an ugly block building. It took many years to complete this airport and nothing special came out of it, but a nightmare. It is incredible hard to navigate around this building, since it was designed on 60 degree angles to one another.

Heathrow Airport, London

Most of us backpackers have been to this airport dozen of times, considering it is the gateway into Europe. But did you know this airport portrayed no sort of design. I found this airport to be insane to distinguish what seating area you are suppose to be at. This airport is known to look like four shopping malls smashed together, what great architecture!

Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, Bali

To think this airport is the gateway to everyone’s dream vacation, it is hard to imagine once you are in this airport. It is very dark and grey, with very low ceiling to give you that creepy feeling. It may look nice from the outside, but the inside of the building is another story.

El Paso International Airport, El Paso, TX

You may think you are going to watch a baseball game, but really you are going to an airport. This building is very unique, with it’s attempt to blend into the regions style, but hardly.  The inside features western look, with dressed up counters and statues, yup very strange!

When you are sleeping on a train, bus or even in an airport, there is a high chance that your bag can get stolen. So what I use to do it is, somehow connect a part of my bag on to my wrist or sleep on my bag as pillow. That way no matter what happened I would wake up knowing my belongings were safe.

Now to keep people from stealing anything out of your bag, carry a small bicycle chain/lock on the top of your bag. You can purchase a net looking chain that frames around your bag so no one can take anything. It’s perfect for those long train rides, and creepy hostels.

Most backpackers tend to carry a lot of stuff. Yes, I have been there, were my backpack was over loaded and looked very fat. Well this is a bad sign, only because the more your rucksack looks fat the more likely someone will be interested in stealing it. So try your best to carry less. Plus, why carry something so heavy, when backpacking is all about carry as little as possible.

Make sure your backpack looks unique and you can tell the difference from other backpacks. Quite often many people get their bags mixed up in airports, hostels, and bus rides. Only because most of the time, backpackers tend to purchase very similar bags and don’t personally make it look different. So try to include a flag, city, object, or colour to distinguish your bag.

Treat your bag like it’s your best friend. Keep it close to you and at all times make sure you know where it is.
Now I know it’s nice to bring your Raybans, expensive gadgets, and shiny clothes along with you while backpacking, but really it’s a bad idea. It will make you look like the perfect target. Try to avoid to looking sharp and pretty, the worst usually comes out of it.