Ever been up all night in an airport?

midlandsmissus

Cause thats what Im at now.

In London Gatwick.

Flying to Canada in the morning.

God Im shattered. Theres a fella lying on the seats beside me snoring away like billy o!

Any tips on how to pass the time?

Crumble Froo

at least you have internet! i spent ages listening to music, writing out all the lyrics that i'd never figured out yet, had a gamegear last time too, that was fun till the batt died, tried learning to draw the people sleeping around me, hehe, lil creepy, but i was so BORED! also, just sleeping. last time i was in heathrow, i had been up all night drinking with monkeyfudge and got home 15mins before i had to leave for the airport, i got onto the plane, settled down, fell asleep and woke up in london. dont remember the plane moving at all.

hmm, sudokus, puzzle magazines, sleeping, counting people...

Will

Do like he does, find a comfy position and rest your bones

Rhyme

Either rest or do something that you've been putting off.

staker

Note an arrival on the screen,try and see if you can spot the "collectors" as they arrive.
/I've done this:D

irlrobins

Overnighted in JFK on the way back from J1 many years ago. Back then only one terminal was "open" 24 hours. But everything in it shuts down, no shops, no bars, nothing. Security herded everyone staying the night into one tiny area and shuttered everywhere else. No seats you could lie across due to the arms.

And as they were in the middle of refurbishing the terminal, the roof leaked on us all night with a storm outside! Fun night! As soon as the bar opened up next morning I was in it until flight was called. Got on plane, flew asleep, woke up landing in Shannon. Pity the guy beside me, I bet I was snoring, dribbling and prob farting.

Never again, I'll always get a hotel room for the night.

Doctor DooM

You have interwebs?

Up all night video games!

Lob something that won't leave a dent at sleepys head, and before he catches his awares...draw him to conversation.

aktelmiele

I was in Singapore Airport from 6 in the evening until 9 the next day

Went to the duty free about 3 in the morning. Could see the cashier thinking " Typical Irish" My Mate who looks quite young was asked " Are you 18?" She said yes and was promptly served.

Later, when I had just about dosed off on a crappy bench, I was woken up by Airport Security with UZIs looking for passports.

Nice thing to wake up to.....

Part of the total 51 hours it took to get home from New Zealand :mad:

Brimmy

Did this twice in the space of a week 2 years ago.

First night was in Belgium with friends, we just played chess all night and went for random walks.

Second time was in Luton Airport by myself, I slept and read. Used the overpriced internet too. Luckily one of the shops there had stayed open so there was a ready collection of magazines to be purchased

Flyboy!!!

Options are sleep in the terminal or sleep on the plane, sleeping on the plane is preferable. There's SFA to do in airports if there are no shops open, if there are shops open, mess around with as much merch as you can. Try on ALL the sunglasses, take photos if you can! But ask for demos of electronic equipment first coz it's obvious you're a waster after they spot you at that. Food, beer, anyone to talk to? I got chatting to an exNasa software programmer on the moon missions in Chicago once, very interesting...

flying _squirl

http://www.supermariobrothers.org/

go there! i recomend Infinite Mario. its a randomly spawning version that doesnt end. and theres also all the other versions too.

AND its all free and theres nothing to install!

monkeyfudge

I had a flight cancel on me around this time last year at Heathrow so got stuck there over night.

Made lots of friends though and led them all out of the airport to a late night hotel bar that was near by that I found out about. Was pretty twisted by the time it came for the flight to board the next morning.

Also... airport flirting is always fun. Airplane flirting is another matter though.

Rozabeez

Buy some lollipops!

Overheal

If you can find some place to lock your gear up, do, and give yourself that extra peace of mind. Might catch some sleep when you arent worrying about your belongings too. Or if you prefer to sweat it out, lots of coffee. failing coffee look for any other source of caffeine or sugar

Sabre0001

Have done it once before and didn't enjoy it...My new plan of getting a hotel nearby and staying up all night is much better*



(*no, it's not...I should have slept but it's too late now or I'll miss my flight )

randylonghorn

Yeah, Dublin airport, being entertained by the cleaners washing the floors.

Couldn't even doze off as they kept putting the plane departure time back an hour at time!

Had a 5 hour stopover in the middle of the night in Barrajas as well, that was much better, ended up chatting to a bunch of South American students with a similar wait, we eventually put all the bits in the middle and fell asleep all over them and each other. That was kind of fun!

anonymous_joe

Madrid airport, and Eindhoven Airport. (Didn't want to wake my ex and go back to her apartment because she had to go across the country the next morning. Bad call on my part. ><)

like clockwork!

Yea, a few times! When it gets bright you are likely to feel as though you are hallucinating! Happened to me, it was like an outer body experience; you feel like you're "not real" or something!

Lia_lia

Me and brother had to once in France when I was about 8. We were going over to visit my Dad and were waiting for him at the air hostess's office where all the kids that are travelling without adults go. But there was some horrible storm and my Dad couldn't get a train to pick us up. So we ended up staying there for about 8 hours overnight. Was class though, we got to have dinner with all the pilots and air hostess. We got loads of food! Was class!

Overheal

like clockwork! wrote: »

Yea, a few times! When it gets bright you are likely to feel as though you are hallucinating! Happened to me, it was like an outer body experience; you feel like you're "not real" or something!

thats the tunnel vision kicking in.

midlandsmissus

Wooo Its morning!

Jaysus you wouldn't believe what happened to me last night.

So I got off the overpriced 6 pound an hour internet when my change ran out, and lay down trying to get a bit of sleep. There were about 15 of us sleeping across seats in the little area I was in.

All of a sudden this fire alarm at a SONIC BOOM sound level goes off, jerking everyone out of their sleep.

Next a screamingly loud voicover saying "PATRONS THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM THIS IS A TEST FIRE PRACTICE"

They ran fire tests the whole bloody night!! Fire alarm would go on for a good ten minutes at a time, the loudest fire alarm I ever heard in my life, my ears were hurting, stop for ONE minute and start again. Honestly I think they were just having a laugh with the people trying to sleep.

I eventually gave up trying to get any sleep and amused myself by watching the same people falling to sleep between alarms, and then jumping out of their sleep when the alarm went off. Cue one man threatening to kill every staff behind the 'torture'.

Good times!

At least I'll be able to sleep on the plane!

Crumble Froo

midlandsmissus wrote: »

I eventually gave up trying to get any sleep and amused myself by watching the same people falling to sleep between alarms, and then jumping out of their sleep when the alarm went off. Cue one man threatening to kill every staff behind the 'torture'.

awesome.

notnem

I spent 8 hours in Dubai, and after a sambo and a cup of coffee I either spent my time reading or walking up and down the airport.

Overheal

midlandsmissus wrote: »

Wooo Its morning!

Jaysus you wouldn't believe what happened to me last night.

So I got off the overpriced 6 pound an hour internet when my change ran out, and lay down trying to get a bit of sleep. There were about 15 of us sleeping across seats in the little area I was in.

All of a sudden this fire alarm at a SONIC BOOM sound level goes off, jerking everyone out of their sleep.

Next a screamingly loud voicover saying "PATRONS THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR ALARM THIS IS A TEST FIRE PRACTICE"

They ran fire tests the whole bloody night!! Fire alarm would go on for a good ten minutes at a time, the loudest fire alarm I ever heard in my life, my ears were hurting, stop for ONE minute and start again. Honestly I think they were just having a laugh with the people trying to sleep.

I eventually gave up trying to get any sleep and amused myself by watching the same people falling to sleep between alarms, and then jumping out of their sleep when the alarm went off. Cue one man threatening to kill every staff behind the 'torture'.

Good times!

At least I'll be able to sleep on the plane!

what airport is this? Tip off a news outlet, see if they dont post a story about it.

entropi

Thankfully, never happened...yet i'm still awake here posting on my phone since its too damn warm to sleep:(

midlandsmissus

Overheal wrote: »

what airport is this? Tip off a news outlet, see if they dont post a story about it.

London Gatwick.Thinking back,it was funny,but it definitely wasnt at the time!! Still I'll never forget it!

This poor ould divil next to me kept waking up with each alarm and would shout 'Not again!' and shake his fists as the ceiling,cursing everyone in the airport.

Honest to god next time im getting a hotel!

loveissucide

Dublin as well.Wasn't fun,especially considering I'd been beaten to every space big enough for a person to sleep on and spent most of it crouched against the wall trying to sleep.

Ruu_Old

Yes, but our airline paid for a nice stay the Chicago O'Hare Hilton.

Shzm

I had to stay overnight in Gatwick back in Feb when the snow closed everything, that wasn't fun at all. I do seem to remember a rather loud security announcement going on all night too, I assume they turn it up at night to deter people from sleeping in the Airport.

mental07

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Also... airport flirting is always fun. Airplane flirting is another matter though.

Ah come on, give us some examples!!! :pac: