I am no road warrior when it comes to traveling but I feel like over my 15+ year career I have traveled a fair amount. However, most of my travel comes in waves, a lot in a row and then nothing at all.

For example, right now I am currently traveling and will get back later this week. I will be home for 2 weeks then a vacation with the whole family where we will be traveling for about a week. Once I get back from that I will have a weekend with the family before boarding a plane again. That time, however, will be an international trip which always adds to some travel complexities.

I typically don't mind traveling except that I have to be away from my family and potentially miss activities of theirs. However, what makes things worse is the pending appointments of flight departures. The hurry up and wait of it all is really nothing special. I am sure I was annoyed with it when I was fresh out of college traveling but maybe I didn’t care as much now. Or it might have been because I was so much younger and didn't have anything else going on.

What makes that even worse is when you have a flight later in the day and your whole day gets sucked into making sure you can leave on time. Or even worse then you feel you can't do anything all day as you want to make sure you leave at the optimal time.

There are too many variables when flying that sometimes suck the enjoyment out of air traveling. Let’s start from the top and work through a couple of items that make the pending appointment of air travel less fun.

Getting to the Airport

Travel times, yep you know what I am talking about is there traffic and if so how bad is it? Should I drive or call a car? If I take Uber or Lyft, will they be on time? If I drive, how long will it take me to park and get to the airport?

Security Line

How early should I really arrive? What if the security line is really long and it takes over the allotted times.

Delayed flights

The flight is delayed, should I leave later? Should I still go at the same time because remember that time the switch it to later and then the plane came in early and it wasn't as long as they said. How delayed do you think it will be? Will I make my connection? When will I get to my destination? Do you think the flight will be canceled? If so, how do I rebook or get a new flight?

You see all of those questions that run through your head and then you have to calculate the time back to your starting point of leaving the house. Not to mention if you have a flight later in the day you keep thinking about it and wondering if the time you planned to leave for the airport is right or if you should go earlier.

Then after you think you have answered all of your questions for airplane travel, you realize you haven't consulted the Weather! Well, that throws a wrench into everything and you have to start at the top again to see how that might affect what you already decided on ideal departure.

This seems out of place

Well hope you enjoyed these random thoughts while I sit in the airport for a 3 hr delayed flight that was supposed to leave at 8:30 pm but we are now not leaving till 11:30 pm and arriving around 2:30 am local time. Don’t worry though I only have an 8:00 am meeting to make sure I am awake for. ?

Miscalculated or having time to Kill in the Airport?

Just as I was going to hit the publish button this came up in my feed so I figured I would share it in case you made a mistake in your calculation or are delayed 3 hours like I was, 10 ways to Survive a Long Airport Layover by Jodie from Travelettes.