Most travel begins and ends at the airport. Airports can be hectic and crazy places for many travelers, especially inexperienced ones. This can lead to stress, panic, and forgetting crucial steps of getting through the airport, particularly at the end of a trip when you just want to be home. Read this list of three things you need to do before leaving the airport to ensure that you both start and end your trip on the right foot.
Retrieve Your Luggage
You would be surprised how many people forget to grab their baggage when they are leaving the airport. After you have gotten off the plane, there will be many signs in the terminal pointing you in the direction of baggage claim. Follow these signs, and eventually you will reach an area that says point of no return—letting you know you will have to go back through airport security if you forgot something on the plane itself. So make sure you have everything you brought on the plane within your possession before continuing.
You will then reach baggage claim, where there will be a series of conveyor belts circulating baggage. Find the carousel that is assigned to your flight and wait for your bags to come around. If it doesn’t show, speak with the nearest help desk to track down your luggage’s location.
Find Transportation
As for arriving at a travel destination, you will need to find a bus, rent a car, or have someone pick you up from the airport. But remember, when you rent a car, you can return the car full or prepay for a tank. This is a good move if you are leaving the airport once you have arrived at your travel destination, as it gives you the freedom to drive around your location.
When returning home, unless you parked at the airport yourself and paid the parking fees most airports charge, then you need transportation again. Calling friends or using a ride sharing app is a great way to make sure you get home. There are also frequent shuttle services that can take you to public transit hubs for a low fee.
Hold Onto Your Belongings
When you leave things behind at the airport it can be very, very hard to get them back. Airports, especially major airports, are massive structures that have thousands and thousands of people moving through them every day. And leaving things on a plane can be even harder, as many planes will fly multiple routes per day, which can send your items across the country or globe. So do everyone a favor and make sure you take close care of your items on a flight, so that you don’t have to deal with the hassle of tracking down a missing item at the airport or the expenses of replacing something.
Traveling is a fun time—but airports can be not so fun. It’s possible to make them very manageable, however, if you know what to do and how to approach travel. Follow these three tips to make sure you know what to do before you leave the airport.
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