As we gather our belongings and clamber off the airplane, we are overwhelmed with exhaustion. It’s around midnight and we have just landed in London Luton airport, arriving from Dubrovnik, Croatia. My sisters and I are quiet as we walk through the terminal, following the signs to our destination. People all around us are buzzing with energy at this late hour. But they are probably heading out to catch the next taxi home, to sleep soundly in their warm beds. Unfortunately warm beds and sleep aren’t in our future for at least another 20-24 hours. We trudge over and finally make it to our departing terminal, which upon first glance looks deserted. However, upon closer inspection, we realize there are quite a few people around, but they are all laid across the floors, heads on backpacks and duffel bags, eyes closed, trying to get some semblance of sleep. One or two bat an eye at us as we walk around them, but most are motionless. We walk around and look for where we want to set up camp. Anywhere with an outlet will do. We spot one, right in front of the counter of a small café. Of course the café is closed at this hour, so we drop our bags, and get settled for the night.
Now ordinarily we would have taken any opportunity we could have to explore a new city. But because of the time of night and, our necessity to catch our early morning flight to Belfast, Northern Ireland at 7:25 am, we had limited options. So instead, we threw on our sweatshirts, laid our heads down on our duffel bags, closed our eyes, and attempted to sleep on the airport floor.
Let me tell you, this is NOT fun. I managed to get about 2 hours of sleep, until I was woken by the loud family standing at our feet having a conversation about who knows what. Once I finally realized they weren’t going anywhere soon, I opened my eyes. I think I counted eight of them. Surely it’s 6am, I thought to myself. I looked down at my phone, and when I realized that it was only 4am, I sent a murderous glare in their direction. Never paying me any bit of attention, they did eventually move away, to go wake some other poor soul. I turned to see that one of my sisters already awake. (or maybe she never actually got any sleep) She was staring down intently at her phone. When she realized I was up, her eyes met mine, I saw they were bloodshot with dark circles underneath. Seeing that I’m eleven years older, I’m sure mine were worse for the wear. Did I mention we had to be at my cousin’s wedding that morning? We were soon ushered away from our camp, as the attendant for the café arrived and started opening up. I will say, next time that I am offered the grand opportunity to sleep on a cold airport floor, I will eagerly check NO on the ballot. Good day sir. Good day.
Wanderlust Travel Tip:
Layover @ LAX? Try In & Out Burger or Manhattan Beach!
I will say layovers do have their advantages too! It all comes down to where you are flying into and exactly how much time you have. If you are lucky, you may just have enough time to explore a new city. I say, when in Rome, get out of the airport! I was actually able to do just that when I had a 9 hour layover at LAX this past summer. Now getting anywhere in Los Angeles, especially depending on the time of day, can take quite some time with the amount of traffic that the city collects. So I did some research beforehand and found that getting to Manhattan Beach actually didn’t require us to deal with much traffic at all. We were there within 15 minutes and spent several hours perusing around, eating, and watching the surfers catch some waves. I even got the chance to experience my very first In & Out Burger, which was only minutes from the airport (9149 S Sepulveda Blvd.) Nom nom nom! It sure beats that cold airport floor.
*We took a cab from the airport to both locations. If you only have time for In & Out burger, there is apparently an airport shuttle that drops you off close by the location. Don’t know about this personally, but see this article by Huffington Post if interested.
Can’t leave LAX?
No worries. See if you can find this!
