I spent 37 hours at the Houston airport and affiliated Marriott hotel in December 2014. While I tend to be one who gets out of the airport as soon as possible, this time I was stuck because of a series of hopeful (and disappointing) standby flights. Instead, I stayed busy and took a lesson in self-entertainment-turned-self help. I hope these life lessons, and things to do at the airport, serve as inspiration for your next day-long layover.

  1. Walk 10 miles
  2. Study philosophy
  3. Setup Tinder and flirt
  4. Advance your career
  5. Focus on hygiene
  6. Meet your soulmate
  7. Make friends with the baristas

I. Walk 10 miles

Aka, wander, for a long time. In my 37 hour stint I clocked more than 12 miles of walking. I walked in every terminal, discovered the secret basement of the airport, and walked it. And all along was tracking my distance. Felt good to be active.

II. Study philosophy

Aka listen to Audible at all moments. While you walk, why not get smarter? I finished an entire book on Audible while going round and round, on philosophy. I didn’t even have to have my eyes open.

III. Setup Tinder and start flirting.

Aka setup Tinder and start flirting. Okay so it got a little LONELY. Of course I took up conversations with one billion airport passersby but the conversations got so dull.

“Hi there!, where are you going?” says the stranger I just sat down next to. “Colombia!” I say. “Unfortunately I’ve been laid over for over a day. I have my fingers crossed I’m gonna get out of here soon, though. “

“Oh wow, Colombia! That sounds fun. Why? Who are meeting there?”

“Oh, no one. I’m going by myself. ”

There is a pause here. From my perspective this glitch in the conversation is filled with my internal dissonance, yet again. I wonder whether I should have just said I’m going to visit family, or my Dad is meeting me there for the holidays. Meanwhile from his perspective, he looks at something else (iPhone, computer, burrito, boarding pass) and wonders whether he’s stumbled upon a real crazy-crazy or just someone cool. “That sounds fun,” he decides to say.

So I stopped having those conversations and starting having way more fun conversations on Tinder. 😉

IV. Advance your career.

Aka go to the fancy restaurant, sit at the bar, and drink 3 manhattans. In the off chance you DO sit to someone interested, the conversations and opportunity to meet incredible people is always high at airports. People sort of forget who they are and their social responsibilities when travelling, and especially at locations as ephemeral as the airport. Airport memories are often profound, but there are no obligations to make friends, and always a reason to cut a conversation short (see: “I need to catch my flight. “)

Seize this opportunity to meet new people as their guards are down. Life is who you know, not what you know. And there are very few opportunities, as adults, to meet as many new people in such a tiny geographic location as a 1-mile radius airport.

V. Focus on hygiene.

Aka, try the toilets. You have time. And you have a bladder. You are going to be spending at least some of your next 24 hours in the bathroom. Why not take a tour of the bathrooms? I went to every bathroom in my terminal and found the cleanest one. #worthit.

VI. Meet your soulmate.

Aka sit in the New York City gate. Again, airports = people. Try strategically “charging your computer” in gates that display places in the world you might want to live. San Francisco? New York? L. A. ? Or maybe you’re more globally inclined. go to the international concourse: Rio de Janeiro, Rome. Managua??

You never know what kind of conversation might strike up, whose “soul” you might “mate,” and where the interactions might take you. If you’re lucky, you’ll walk up to the ticket counter right there, change your flight, and put your life on a new course.

VII. Being active was a how do i write essay healthy way to channel my frustration and insecurities. Make friends with the baristas.

Aka drink too much coffee for being this cooped up. This is not just a lesson in airports, but in life lesson at large. Knowing the baristas is the key to the caffeinated soul. A wise man once said, “a caffeinated body, is a happy body. ” Oh wait, no one said that. Regardless. Go make friends with Starbucks. In the time it took me to drink 3 grande Americanos at Starbucks, I had 2 free refills, Starbucks friended me on Twitter and sympathized with my flight delay, and I’m still working on getting a Starbucks gift card from the new-found-Twitter-friend online for yet another freebie.  

Okay friends, there are 7 life lessons and things to do at the airport. I will be updating this if more important lessons arise. Thank you.