airport
Getting from the Airport to Your Hotel
One of the most difficult processes in any trip is transportation in your destination city, especially if you aren’t renting a car. Getting from the airport (or the bus or train stop if you’re travelling by land) can be very stressful. You have to get all of your luggage, make it out of the terminal, and then figure out how exactly to get from there to where you’ll be staying. You have a few options, though.
First, you may want to reconsider not renting a car. If you have some free time and want to really explore the city you’re in, you will probably need a car to see it all. However, this can be expensive, so it may not be something that works for you.
Some airports do provide free shuttles from the terminal to specific hotels. If your hotel is one of these, all you have to do is ask any of the airline representatives where to find the shuttle pick up point. Once there, you just wait for the shuttle to come along, pick you up, and drop you off. You can also use this service to return to the terminal to catch your flight home.
If there is no shuttle service, the light rail or subway service may be an option. While not all cities have these forms of public transportation, some do. Those that do feature light rail systems or subways generally have at least one line that runs to the terminal. The only downside here is that you may have to haul your luggage a long way from the nearest station to your hotel.
The city bus often makes stops at the airport, too. Again, you’ll have to haul your bags onto the bus and then off the bus and to your hotel, but it’s fairly inexpensive. To find out about bus options, talk to an airline representative or look for an information kiosk. Most terminals have an area that features information about forms of transportation to and from the terminal.
Finally, the most expensive option is to hire a taxi. This will get you directly from the terminal to your hotel with little or not wait time, but it will cost you, especially if you have to go a good distance. However, in some locations, a taxi may be your only option.
For most airlines, you can search their website for information about shuttles and such. You can also call the airline and ask them about what transportation options are available so you know what to expect when you arrive.
Marking Your Baggage
As you read last week, sometimes you lose your baggage at the airport. While this isn’t the horrible event that some people make it out to be, it’s still not a lot of fun. However, there are a few tricks you can do to make it easier to identify your luggage. This not only makes it easy to tell airport officials what your luggage looks like if it’s lost but it also makes it easy to identify your luggage when you’re picking it up at baggage claim.
The first way of easily finding your luggage amid all the other bags and suitcases on the conveyor belts is to buy luggage that is very distinctive. Brightly coloured bags or bags with unique patterns are generally very easy to spot. The only downside to this is that these bags may not be unique—others may decide that they like the same bright colours or designs. Suddenly, your unique luggage is beside three other suitcases that look just like it.
You can always pay a little bit extra and get monogrammed luggage. These suitcases and bags have your initials or even your name on them. This makes it easier to find them, true, but it can also give others important information about you. It’s never a good idea to let strangers know your full name, especially in this age of identity theft. While most places will require more than just your name, some don’t check ID as closely as they should.
Instead of putting your name or initials on your luggage, then, go for something a little different. One example of this is to buy brightly colored shoelaces and tie them around the handle of your luggage. You can also wrap colored electrical tape on the handle or even take fabric paint and paint a design or stripes on the suitcase itself. This makes it very easy to identify your luggage and, in the event of lost luggage, makes it easier for airline personnel to find it, too.