(Not) Sleeping in Airports

“Ooohh, spending the night in the airport?? This could be a fun adventure! Well, maybe not too fun, but an interesting experience, nonetheless!”

Not fun.

But it was an interesting experience, and I’m glad to be able to say that I’ve done it!

Just be prepared to not actually sleep, unless you’re one of those lucky people that can fall asleep anywhere, at anytime.

I had just arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from San Francisco, two very long flights and it was 11:00 pm. My next flight wasn’t until 10:30 am and I was exhausted and ready to sleep.

I had checked out the website sleepinginairports.net (which a friend had shown me) and I did my research on the Auckland airport (number 4 in the Oceania region for overnight stays) and I started scoping out the airport itself for those set of seats without armrests. Much not to my surprise, the benches were already full of sleeping travelers waiting the hours away for their next flight. I looked over at the floor a few meters away and while it wasn’t glamorous, there was a carpet, which was better than nothing. I went over, popped down my bags, and set up my nest for the night.

As I closed my eyes and tried to sleep under the fluorescent lights and through the noise from the employees re-decorating this particular area of the airport, a young couple came up to me and greeted me once again.
The three of us had all been traveling with the same itinerary since San Francisco and always bumped into each other at each airport layover. In fact, we all met at the very beginning of this trip in the service line when we all had trouble printing our tickets.

Together, the 3 of us formed a pod and got to know each other. We talked for a while before falling asleep (or attempting) and soon our group of 3 grew into a mass of tired travelers, all camped out on the carpet.

At this point in time, I had become very aware of where I was, and the fact that I was there on my own; I had just arrived in a foreign country where I didn’t really know anyone (aside from one person I went to school with, and the hosts I hadn’t met yet). I had started to have second thoughts, laying there awake on the floor wondering why I thought traveling alone, and so far away, was ever a good idea. Awake, and with no one to talk to, I took my journal and wrote: “I’m kind of freaked out. I’m across the world alone. [...] What am I doin? Traveling this much alone…” later followed by my next entry in the morning: “Oh, the plane gave us wet towels too! The service was excellent and they were always smiling (even if it was a bit fake - understandable, long flight. [...] Wow, night and day thoughts are so different.”

Previous to these entry was this one, a bit of a gem, and lesson…: “Don’t bring hard boiled eggs, and if you do, DO declare them, otherwise you will be fined $400 NZD and the eggs will be taken… :( ”

That was unfortunate.
Anyway,

I would fall asleep for about 45 minutes at a time, wake up, and doze off again, only about 3 times and by the time it was 4:30 am, I was awake and wasn’t falling back asleep.
Once we had all woken up and started to move around, I had exchanged contact information with the young couple and we had discussed meeting up in New Zealand for a few fun adventures! (I never ended up hearing from them, and it’s possible that my email had been mistyped; I had also never actually collected their info, but maybe some things aren’t meant to be; in any case, it was nice to have company for that journey!)

I’m glad to say I’ve tried the adventurous route and camped out in an airport, but I will also honestly say that I don’t intend to do so again (unless maybe I’m traveling with someone else, in which case it could be fun! (I’ve said that before.. haha))