How to survive long journeys alone

During my Erasmus year, I got to travel a lot. Some of my journeys I had to take alone. This is not a problem if you've got a direct flight to your destination or just one hour of waiting. But, in my case, I have waited even for thirteen hours straight (and, at night! ) and I also did the route from Barcelona to Valencia and vice-versa many times, so I want to write some tips in order to enjoy your trip alone, without getting too bored and tired!

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• Sleeping is quite risky and you should decide whether or not you should do it, depending on where you are. If it is night, there is always the risk that your things are stolen or that you lose track of time. The best solution is to carry important things on you and not in your bags -for example, in your pocket. This is just a suggestion, though, and it still wouldn't be my first choice to fall asleep -it has happened, but it is not the rule.

• In order to stay awake, a trick is to eat something. Apart from coffee, that stops working at some point of the night, you can have some nuts with you, or something small like that, that is not a regular food, but a snack that will keep you distracted and awake.

• Always have food and water with you. The prices you are likely to find during your trips are high, exactly because these are places that aim at the hungry and thirsty travelers! This is why I always make a sandwich at home or at least get something from a local supermarket. Also, if you know that you have to wait many hours, get something sweet too -just in case.

• Charge the batteries of everything: mobile phone, laptop etc... This is not the time to run out of battery! Another trick is to find seats where there is a plug. This way, you can stay and watch movies without running out of power after a while. Take a walk on the airport and you'll find plugs in some corners and probably in some of the cafes. So you should also have the chargers with you! You can listen to music and watch movies. Carry your headphones with you!

• Search for a place with people and choose to sit there. The emptier the corner, the scarier, if you are in an airport in the middle of the night... A good choice would be a cafe with comfortable seats -in any case, you might have to change seats if you get bored. That's what I normally do. But, if you can't find as nice a place as the previous one, you can always come back!

  

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• Take books with you, in case you want to read. Also, I always carry a notebook and pen in order to write down some thoughts, like in a diary, or simply take notes on something I wanna remember, but I don't trust my memory, because of the lack of sleep!

• Don't be afraid to socialize with other travelers -if someone talks to you, it doesn't mean that they are dangerous. In any case, you can always get up and leave. Talking about your journey or giving an opinion can't harm -do not share personal information with complete strangers, though. If they ask for any of your data, you can ask for their facebook instead and check that they're ok before adding them.

  

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• Search for interesting things to do within the airport, like going to see the duty free shops, browsing through gifts, even if you don't wanna buy anything, or sitting in the free internet spots in the special computers or tablets. If there is such a thing, you can spend sometime there doing something interesting.

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