For those of us who only travel a few times a year, the actual act of travelling itself can be a real stress if you don’t approach it in the right way. As well as the physical effort involved in making sure you’re at the right place at the right time, it can take a mental toll on you, particularly if your journey involves taking a plane.
If you take a second to sit back, smell the roses and follow the top travel tips below, however, you’ll see that travel doesn’t need to be a major worry.
Be prepared
Leaving packing and preparation to the last minute is a real rookie error. Make sure you’re packed and ready to go the night before your trip, not the morning of. Always plan multiple routes to the airport too in case there are problems along the way and make sure you have an airport itinerary planned out for the day. Whilst packing, you should also make a list of everything you’ll need, both for the flight (documents, passports etc.) and for yourself (snacks, drinks, entertainment). Make sure everything you need is kept in your carry-on luggage and that everything else is in cabin luggage.
Make time
As a rule of thumb, many travel companies say you should aim to be at the airport no more than 2 hours before your plane departs. Don’t listen to them. If possible, aim to be there at least 3 hours before as check-in often opens early (particularly now so many people choose to check-in online or on their phones) and the more time you have to yourself to relax in the departure lounge, the more you will be able to enjoy the start of your holiday.
Train it
Besides the actual airport itself, one of the main things we worry about before our holi-days is how we are actually going to get to the airport. Taxis and parking are always options, but with the wealth of reliable rail networks scattered across the country (particularly down south), we would always recommend taking the train to the airport when possible. Getting the train from East Croydon to Gatwick Airport, for example, is a remarkably simple and worry-free experience that mitigates the potential traffic worries of a typical London car journey, which could be particularly stressful when you know you have a plane to catch. Just make sure you remember to book in ad-vance so you know you have a seat! Then you’ll truly have achieved the holy grail of completely stress-free travel.
