Let’s go..

On a scale of 1 to 10, how cool is it to sleep in an airport?

Given that..a) You are on a tight budget b) Have an early morning flight c) The airport is down with it.. d) Most decent hotels in Brussels are pegged at a starting rate of 65 euros a night…then you would have to get a taxi at 15 euro to the location, pay for breakfast at 10 euro per person, get another taxi to the airport at 15 euro…need I say by sleeping in the airport you have some serious moola saved up which can afford you an extra helping of greek salad or a snazzy island-hopping cruise at your destination.
So so cool…I give it a 9 out of 10.

But. Maybe its’ not so cool…after all..a) It’s winter..or fall, blimey! That means that b) You’ll freeze your socks off the whole night in a cold airport..c) You may risk being pick pocketed or have your belongings rifled through when you catch your forty winks d) There’s nowhere to take a shower in the airport.., or brush your teeth..heck…this is not Dubai or Changi airport in Singapore where there’s an allowance to do that e) It may be against airport policy to hit the snooze button on their premises f) You will be bone tired the next day…2 out of 10, not cool at all..

So how did it really go?

Well.., I got to Brussels Charleroi airport at 12 midnight after the taxi wandered about for quite some time. It appears that the GPS was faulty…was quite alarmed that we were headed to Luxembourg,..then it begun to work again and we found our route.

We were already exhausted, after all we had begun our journey at 6.30pm from the Netherlands.

It was a pleasant surprise to find people already sleeping at that time which made me feel pretty safe. Something about numbers.

We scoured the area and located a nice open space next to the kids amusement electrified car.

My sleeping space next to the electrified car toy.

With regards to temperature, the airport was reasonably warm. I had to remove my jacket and lie down. The floor was hard but okay, slept near a children’s play auto section which intermittently would jolt me awake, in pretty much the same way an alarm clock would, with a loud musical and blinking lights of different colours like a disco ball, …then there was the huge screen advertising Wallonia tourism sights in Belgium.

A security man came round at 4 am nudging people awake with a loud “Bonjour!”

Would I do it again? Nah..but the experience was one tick off my bucket list.

My first day in Athens?

It’s all Greek to me…

Have you ever slept at an airport and what was your experience like?