Have You Been Grounded?

waiting for flight
Updated: Mar 17th, 2010

How many travel writers have been stranded at the airport? Did you get a good night’s sleep? Maybe or maybe not. Being stuck at the airport may be a blessing in disguise. You could do some great travel writing from the airport. More importantly, you’ll have an entertaining travel articles to post on your blog or submit to publishers.

You may think that you can’t produce decent travel writing from an airport, but you can. Just make sure that you don’t fall asleep and have your laptop confiscated (because you weren’t watching your bags). This happened once to someone at an airport. He had to pay $53 to get his laptop back.

Some potential angles for your travel articles:

  • Worst (or Best) Airport bathrooms
  • Most spacious seating areas
  • Best Airports for business travelers
  • Best Airport restaurants
  • Most comfortable sleeping areas
  • Most helpful airport personnel

Even though you may be stuck at an airport, this doesn’t mean you must be lost in transition. Take advantage of the quiet (if you’re lucky) and maintain your travel writing blog. There are websites devoted to rating airport experiences – maybe you could send them a guest post!

Many people get upset when they get stuck in the airport. There’s nothing you can do about it so you may as well make the best of it. You never know, you could write an award winning travel piece! And for some additional advice if you do spend the night, check out the Guide To Sleeping In Airports website.

Rebecca

What are your favorite airports? Have you ever written about your airport experiences?

About Amandah Blackwell 198 Articles

Amandah Blackwell is a creative, freelance and ghost writer for industries that include but are not limited to the arts & entertainment, travel, publishing, real estate, pets, personal and professional development, and much more.

Amandah's personal writing projects include screenplays, teleplays, YA, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry. 

You can find more of her writing at www.MisticCafe.com, savvywritingcareers.wordpress.com, and www.savvy-writer.com.

You can follow Amandah on Twitter at:  http://twitter.com/savvy_writer

6 Comments

  1. I never thought about writing from the airport. I’m usually too busy people watching. Next time, I take out my notepad and write down some notes. Airports are great for people watching. Another angle would be to get a travel perspective from the flight crew or airline employees. I’m sure they have a lot of stories to tell. :)

  2. Great post. I like to people watch as well. Thanks Angela for the idea to speak with airline employees. I’m sure they have some entertaining stories. It would be great to compare and contrast airline employees in different countries. Whose the friendliest? Whose grouchy?

  3. Although I still really LOVE traveling, let’s face it — the “flying” part is simply not sexy anymore, and hasn’t been for years. I really don’t see it improving anytime soon either.

    Over the past few years, flights have regularly been overbooked and overcrowded, personal space (seat size, pitch, aisle width) has dramatically decreased, services such have either been eliminated to converted to a pay-for-use model, flights have routinely been delayed or cancelled altogether, and in general the airlines have made the whole experience pretty miserable.

    Oddly though, I think this is what is driving the recent improvements in airports across the country – they’ve really spiffed up, added more (and better) shopping opportunities, more upscale restaurants, more (and better) business services, internet access, improved lavatories – the list goes on…..since people are spending more time actually IN the airport than ever before as their flights are delayed or cancelled, the airports have really stepped up the the plate and are starting to hit home runs in improved passenger experience.

    What a great angle to base a few travel articles on – it would be REALLY cool if there was a brave travel writer out there who would try recreating the experience of Tom Hank’s character in the movie “The Terminal” (actually living in an airport for a week maybe) and write about it – and it could even be fun!

  4. I just saw the Terminal a few nights ago too…

    Frankly what you write about is only limited by your imagination. I would have never thought to write about the airport unless there something dramatic happening, but any and every story can be told in an entertaining/educational fashion.

  5. Yep! A story can be found no matter where you are when you travel. I can think of a ton of stories to write when I drive to Phoenix, AZ, fly in and out of Sky Harbor, and grocery shop.

  6. Personally, I love hanging out in airports. People watching is a hobby of mine. Besides, what r you going to do if you’re flights delayed or cancelled? Getting upset will not solve anything. It will make matters worse. Chill out, people watch, and you may think of some travel articles. You never know when inspiration will strike. It almost always happens when you least expect it, like being stuck at the airport :) Rock out those travel articles!

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