48 Hours in Airport(s): My Journey To Cape Town

On my way to Cape Town, I sort of got myself in a pickle. Somewhere between tight layovers and bad weather, I ended up with a total of 48 whole hours hopping between airports across North and South America before landing in Cape Town, South Africa. Here’s 3 tips when booking your flight which might be helpful when you’re looking at flights to avoid sleeping at the airport. 

#1. Start searching for flights early. Track the prices using (google.com/flights or skyscanner.com) and book when you’re ready and it’s at a reasonable price (you want to aim for around 2 months before, but earlier the better!). It’s also very helpful to have the airline’s app for quick and easy access to flight information, to track your bags and potentially to change any flight details if your airline allows.  Additionally, leading up to the flight make sure to check the weather of the place that you are flying out of and the place(s) that you are flying into, this includes your layover spot!

#2. Embrace the long layover.  Traveling to Cape Town, a direct flight is hard to find, so most of the flight options will contain layovers. In this case though, aim for ideally 2-3 hour layovers. You want to have enough time between stops to find your gate, maybe get a snack, maybe freshen up, or just to relax and un-pop your ears after the last flight. A rule of thumb for me is that a longer layover is typically better just to help smooth out any wrinkles along the way. I would always steer toward the longer layover than the shorter, just to account for any weather changes, engineering delays, etc, which could affect your travels. Ensure that when looking at connection times, you have given yourself adequate time at any stops that you might make. 

#3. Be prepared! Pack toothbrush, face wash, toothpaste, moisturizer, sunscreen mini, retainer, light snacks, etc. within your personal item in case your carry-on gets checked in and you are stuck somewhere or you just want to freshen up along the way. These things get VERY expensive at the airport. Honorable mention to high calorie snacks like nuts which don’t take up a lot of space but are good to snack on and keep you full for a long time. Just to avoid paying a lot of money for food within the airport, especially as long haul international flights which will provide you with on-board meals. 

In the event that you do get stuck in the airport: 

#4. Communicate! Talk to the airline help desk, communicate with IES Abroad, other people in your program and any other programs that you might need to contact with the updates to your flight. Call your family and friends with updates. Keep everyone in the loop! 

#5. Don’t panic, explore! You will get to your final destination eventually, so live in the present! Sometimes your greatest asset is all of the time that you have in the airport to really thoroughly explore! You're in a whole new world! Make the best of wherever you are and get to know the place. Additionally, the IES Abroad center will give you so much guidance and grace with any travel delays or disruptions, after I had missed out on most of orientation, the Center was my biggest asset to help me to get back up to speed.