Category Archives: Top-X-Things

Guestblog: Split Airport – things to do when your flight is delayed

You have heard the phrase a thousand times over, “time passes in a blur…” Very true. Except when you are waiting for a delayed flight in a busy airport departure lounge. It is even worse when the flight is canceled altogether. As someone who has been caught in such situations a dozen times in the past, I have made it my duty to discover fun things to do in various cities around the world if my flight is delayed or cancelled. Of all the destinations I have covered this far, none has provided as much choice and variety of activities to do as Split in Croatia.

I hereby share some of the best distractions for airline passengers facing prospects of delayed flights in the bustling city. As you can see, the suggestions are varied enough to offer options to travelers delayed for short to lengthy periods of time as the case may be.

Here are suggestions of what to do if you are in Split airport (SPU) and:

Your flight is delayed for 2 hours or less…

If you have about a couple of hours to spend waiting for your delayed flight, you do not have to spend that time twiddling fingers or browsing through a boring magazine in the lounge. Owing to its scenic location and very busy nature of business, Split Airport is known the world over as a perfect place to go airplane spotting.

The seaside promenade on the historic city of Trogir offers the best view of planes landing and taking off as it lies just below the glide path to the airport’s Runway 05. But if you do not have enough time to go all the way to Trogir (the old city is on an island just off the airport itself), opt for a strategic location just outside the airport as the runways are very close to the airport boundaries. You will be surprised at the number of tourists and locals enjoying the same fascination.

Your flight is delayed for 3 to 6 hours…

For a lengthier delay stretching for up to six hours, you have a wide selection of attractions in and around the city. I would highly recommend a visit to the Diocletian’s Palace in the historic sector of the city. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the palace was built at the height of the Roman Empire and is amazingly preserved to the present day. You will be enthralled by the hulking height of the palace’s four gates: the Golden Gate (Porta Aurea in Latin, or Zlatna vrata in Croatian), the Silver Gate (Porta Argenta in Latin, or Srebrna vrata in Croatian), Iron Gate (Porta Ferrea in Latin, or eljezna vrata in Croatian) and Bronze Gate (Porta Aenea in Latin, or Mjedena vrata in Croatian.

Your flight is delayed for 7 to 12 hours…

For travelers whose flights have been delayed for up to 12 hours, I would recommend going for something other than mere sightseeing. Of the various recommendations I could make, none make as much sense as going for a snorkeling adventure of the coastal waters of Split. The PADI diving center is a licensed snorkeling club and even if you have zero experience in the pastime, you will soon be having a wild time of it under the guidance of expert snorkelers who know how to make the experience a fun filled outing.

Your flight is cancelled or delayed by over 12 hours…

The news that your flight has been cancelled or delayed for longer than 12 hours may feel like a vicious kick in the tummy but you should not let it dampen your spirit. I was once caught up in similar circumstance at this very airport and I forgot the inconvenience of it all by opting to go for a sailing experience around the amazing Dalmatian coastline. After all, it is not for nothing that Croatia is known as a sailing paradise.

There are many boat charter agencies within a 10-20 minutes’ taxi drive from the airport. From there you will be able to charter a vessel of your choice and set off for an all day long sailing adventure. The one important thing you should keep in mind is getting familiar with the Croatian sailing guidelines with important numbers and danger signals which will keep you safe while on board.

The Dalmatian coastline has well over a thousand islands and islets each with its own story and landscape. We hope this tips will help you get the most out of a delayed or cancelled flight and you will use this opportunity to see more of the beauty Split has to offer.

About the author: Romeo Demes is a passionate writer and blogger from Croatia. He lived more than half of his life in the beautiful Dubrovnik. He travels a lot and has seen many amazing places, but you know how they say – no place feels like home.

[Image source: http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zra%C4%8Dna_luka_Split#mediaviewer/File:Split_airport_and_Ciovo_from_air.jpg]

Shanghai Pudong International Terminal 2 – not quite Hong Kong

If you haven’t been to mainland China, arriving at any Chinese airport is quite exciting as it can feel a bit like the forbidden, foreign land. At least it did for us when we visited. But if you’ve traveled through a large number of airports like we did, you may find something you expected to be fairly exotic, is actually pretty “normal”. This airport terminal could certainly be almost anywhere in the world. One well known airport comes to mind quite strongly though.

Continue reading Shanghai Pudong International Terminal 2 – not quite Hong Kong

Guestblog: Dubrovnik Airport

Delayed or canceled flights can be a real nuisance, causing frustration and boredom whenever they happen. Still, if this ever happens to you at Dubrovnik airport (DBV) there are a few ways to turn the situation to your advantage. As someone who lived in Dubrovnik and worked at its airport for quite a few years, I had seen a lot of frustrated tourists aimlessly waiting for the time to pass – which is a big mistake as there are several interesting and cool things you can do. Continue reading Guestblog: Dubrovnik Airport

Brunei International Airport: about to grow up

Where the hack is Brunei, you might ask? You’re excused as he country is one of the smaller ones, hence exactly knowing where it is might not be everyone’s geography forte. So let us put our teacher’s voice on and tell you that Brunei is a tiny sultan state on the island of Borneo in South East Asia. Borneo itself is the third largest island on the planet and shares its land mass between three countries: Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei.

Continue reading Brunei International Airport: about to grow up

Top Tips for a better Easter trip experience revisited

This time last year, we provided you with ideas how you can make your Easter break more pleasurable. This year we want to see what has changed in the 12 months and review our then given expert advice. The key two sentences definitely still hold true: Airports across the globe will be filled with eager travellers. Many of the airports will reach or even exceed their capacity resulting in long queues and departure delays. This year there’s one more element beside under-capacity: strikes. As reported in our weekly news round-up on Sunday, Stansted airport’s baggage handlers are threatening with strikes over Easter. This is a guarantee for additional stress at the airport. But don’t panic, we’re here to help!

Continue reading Top Tips for a better Easter trip experience revisited

Best International Airports for Layovers Critiqued

Our lovely friends over at Forbes have recently come up with their selection of the best international airport for layovers. It’s a great idea and something we have been discussing for a while here at LateDeparture. So, in true LD-style, let’s get that red pen out and add some notes to their recommendations:

London Heathrow Airport (IATA: LHR)

Yes, London is exciting, however, the airport overall isn’t. Don’t get us wrong, we really like what they’ve done with Terminal 5 and the Virgin Clubhouse in Terminal 3 is simply fantastic, however, the average traveller would probably be quite underwhelmed by the airport overall. It still feels too crowded, outdated and confusing. Plus there’s always the chance of getting in or out late because of the airport is already at 99% capacity with its 2 runways. But then it is London, well known for being eccentric and a bit chaotic. So if that’s what you like, you’ll have a great time there!

Hong Kong International (IATA: HKG)

Yes, Hong Kong should definitely be on that list; we wrote about it numerous times, for example in one of our most famous headlines reading “When little airports grow up, they become Hong Kong International“. The airport has also won numerous awards and certainly has our seal of approval!

Munich International Airport (IATA: MUC)

Munich airport has two faces: a happy one and a rather confused if not angry one. Let us explain this further: Munich is one of the Lufthansa hubs and therefore receives special treatment by the German airline. The carrier occupies one terminal exclusively (together with its Star Alliance partners). This terminal, Terminal 2, is really nice and offers plenty of options for shopping or consuming one of those famous Oktoberfest beers. On the other side, Terminal 1 is dull and boring and doesn’t seem to fit next to its upmarket cousin. However, there’s a solution if you are not flying through Terminal 2: head outside and get into that middle section between the two terminals. There you find a few restaurants and other interesting stuff to spend your time with (read our more detailed review titled “Oktoberfest atmosphere at Munich Airport” to gain further insights).

Singapore Changi Airport (IATA: SIN)

Yes, yes, and yes! This airport ticks all the boxes and definitely belongs in this list. And no, we don’t get any money for writing this. But it is an open secret that this airport has been our long lasting favourite and we’ve covered it extensively (e.g. read our detailled review of Changi’s crown jewel, Terminal 3 here).

Amsterdam Schiphol (IATA: AMS)

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, what can we say? Maybe that we love you? There’s certainly no doubt that this is an exciting airport with plenty to see and do. In our opinion it’s probably the best European airport as it’s got the perfect size, it’s big but not too big. Plus similar to Changi airport, Amsterdam keeps introducing new and exciting things.  The latest one was the banner vending machine – we wrote about it. If you want to read more about the airport, a good start is our review here.

That’s where the Forbes list ends. Overall we believe it’s a good selection but might miss out on mentioning South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (IATA: ICN), an airport that has also regularly won awards, Zurich Airport (IATA: ZRH) which we also featured a number of times (e.g. here) or good old Los Angeles International (IATA: LAX) albeit not for the airport itself, but for it’s great location only minutes away from the beach and other superb layover options (read our extensive LAX reviews here, here and here).

[Photo from Flickr – Some rights reserved by Gerrit Wenz]

Berlin Tegel revisted, probably for the last time

Berlin Tegel (IATA: TXL) is a funny airport. It’s there where according to Wikipedia, Aviation history dates back to the early 20th century, when the Prussian airship battalion was based there and the area became known as Luftschiffhafen Reinickendorf. After that a lot had happened in the area (for further details refer to your history books) until in the 1960s the current airport took shape. And what a shape it took! Tegel Airport is notable (or funny as I called it) for its hexagonal terminal building around an open square, which makes walking distances as short as 30 m (98 ft) from the aircraft to the terminal exit.

Continue reading Berlin Tegel revisted, probably for the last time

JFK Terminal 7: Quite a passable experience

With the pleasant memory of JetBlue’s dedicated Terminal 5 still in the back of my head (we wrote about it), Terminal 7 at JFK feels a bit claustrophobic upon entering. But it takes a lot more for me to give up. Surely there has to be more to the home of British Airways at JFK. Let’s have a more closer look:

Continue reading JFK Terminal 7: Quite a passable experience

Upstate New York’s Syracuse Airport: Yawn!

Syracuse is the fifth most populous town of the state New York and as pretty much all US towns of that size, it has an airport. Well, of course it does, otherwise we wouldn’t be writing about it. The airport, Syracuse Hancock International Airport (IATA: SYR) is, according to Wikipedia, a joint civil-military public airport located 7.4 km (4.6 mi) northeast of Syracuse. The main terminal complex is located at the eastern end of Colonel Eileen Collins Boulevard.

Continue reading Upstate New York’s Syracuse Airport: Yawn!

JFK Terminal 5: JetBlue’s amazing terminal

Have you ever dreamt of an airport with an attractive, yet functional design? An airport with beautiful and innovative food outlets, great shopping? Or what about an occasional live concert? And on top of it all speedy and efficient operations? Dream no longer, this airport actually does exist: It’s called Terminal 5, the dedicated JetBlue terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York (IATA: JFK, LD hub page).

Continue reading JFK Terminal 5: JetBlue’s amazing terminal