May 3, 2018 at 10:02About sleeping at the airport: utilities and tales
I fly a lot and see different shit like an eight-hour flight delay and large windows between transits in 3 transfers. My friends lost their documents, or we just flew through Copenhagen in the summer, when a hostel bed costs 15 thousand rubles a night.
We slept in Copenhagen at the airport, and it was scary. When I returned, I learned a lot about this type of hobby.
First, go to sleepinginairports.net . There is a huge knowledge base, there are a lot of guides from the series “Be careful at this airport, there are no outlets” or “There is zone A where it’s best to sleep.” It also shows where the shower is, where you can wash your feet (in chapels) and where the yoga room is. The yoga room is immediately a fierce wine, it is very good to sleep there.
Here is a video where a man in Domodedovo is sleeping on a working baggage tape.
This is not necessary.
So how should it be? To begin with - take a pillow with you. Canal lightweight sleeping bag, lightweight plaid or a large scarf. Take ear plugs or buy them at a pharmacy (better to take). A day at airports usually starts at 5 in the morning, and then until midnight it is noisy. You will need an eye mask - the lights at the airport are not turned off anywhere. And sometimes it also blinks. Some airports have dim light zones - for example, in Iceland, at KEF, very cool done.
Next comes food and water, because at night almost all stores are closed. I take another book and an antiseptic.
If there are stickers and a felt-tip pen, you can write something like “wake me up at five in the morning” and stick it on yourself. They say it works. When not in Russian. In Russian, you are likely to wake up without a bag.
Check airport opening hours.They sometimes close at night. For example, we flew from Paris. They did not check how many airports the airport operates and arrived there with the firm intention to spend the night in warmth and relative comfort. Everything was fine exactly until 11 pm, when we were triumphantly kicked out the door. Some of the same losers, like us, went to seek luck in the nearest McDuck, and we decided that since we still had a tent with us, we would spend the night in it. Right on the lawn in front of the airport and put it. At 5 in the morning we got up, gathered and went to make a marathon in the airport toilet. Well, have breakfast in cafes.
It also happens that some terminals are closed, so you need to spend the night not in the terminal of domestic flights, but in international ones - they are usually open. But everything needs to be double-checked so that it does not happen that at 11 pm you are kicked out of the airport in a sleepy state.
Go to the transit zone. If you have a check-in for your flight and baggage you checked in (or even go without it), then at most European airports you can go by boarding pass right into the transit zone. Inside, it’s more comfortable to sleep than on the outside of the airport - not only passengers spend the night there. Usually in transit areas there is a shower, more comfortable seats, a bunch of additional services and even a yoga room. In addition, there is less chance that you will be robbed. And airport staff will not pull to check if you are a passenger or not.
Think about security. Find an emergency room and police at the airport. Almost all civilized airports have them. It’s best to go to bed somewhere next to them - it’s less likely that you will be robbed. At least that's what it is.
The backpack must be hugged, or at least put an arm or leg on it. Some particularly nervous ones chained themselves to their bags. If you are lying on the floor, it is better to turn the backpack or suitcase with a zipper / lock to the wall. This will make it difficult to access things, and the theft process will become noisy at times. You can wrap hand luggage in a second layer in a lightweight sports bag - such as those sold in Ikea. Just don’t take the reds.
A place.If you are in the transit zone, then everything is greatly simplified. There you can sleep in lounges, in children's rooms (they usually have carpets on the floors), in libraries, in a yoga room. You can still sleep in the lounges. You can go to these areas if you pay a certain amount. This can be cheaper than spending the night in a hotel at the airport or in a capsule hotel. There was a case when one entrepreneurial traveler bought a business class ticket several times with a free exchange, return, and business lounge. He came to the airport, relaxed in the business lounge, ate and drank before departure, and for a certain time he went and changed his ticket. At some point, the airline revealed the scheme, but a couple of times this trick worked.
If there is no registration for the flight, it will not be possible to go to the internal zone of the airport. Can't sleep on the seats - look at the beautiful rubber ramps at the reception. They are soft, cold, completely anatomical in shape. You can sleep a couple of hours before registration.
An extreme option is to rent a car. If parking is free, then it can be cheaper than a night at the hotel.
Do not forget to ask.Sometimes airport employees can help with a night's sleep if you are in a “clean” zone, because in a “dirty” area it may turn out that you are simply homeless and the employee will not find out. In Charles de Gaulle you can give the whole set: a plaid, rug, blindfold, toothbrush. Then you just lie down on the floor, hug your suitcase and sleep. The main thing is to ask. Employees can themselves go with essential packages. They see that people are trying to sleep, come up and give out everything they need. At Brussels airport, rumors say that folding beds are generally rolling out. That is, it always makes sense to ask local workers. If you are not sure that you will have a good night now, just go up and ask: “And you will not give me anything?”
Each airport has its own specifics. In one place you will be left alone, and in another they can wake up and check your boarding pass every hour if you fall asleep in a common area (not in transit). Some employees simply don’t like it when they spend the night at the airport - they can expel everything.
In Singapore (Changi International Airport) there are free sunbeds:
And this is Seoul (Incheon International Airport):
He constantly argues with Singapore for the title of best airport. The sleeping areas are separate from the busy shops.
In Tokyo (HND) seats without handrails, that is, you can sleep in length. This airport also has hotels - not only for people, but also for animals.
Helsinki (HEL) has paid capsules for sleeping and pacifying sounds of nature for those who are not afraid to oversleep a flight.
It is better not to stop in South Sudan (JUB) - there are mud puddles in the hall during the rainy season and drips from above. There are huge lines in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport, JED): “I personally met an immigration officer who fell asleep while checking my documents. Then he actually left his post, just to sprinkle water on his face, and then returned and fell asleep again. ” But there is free Wi-Fi.
Then Nigeria - Port Harcourt International Airport (PHC). They say that employees extort money for literally everything. For example, they may say that the visa is incorrect and you need to pay extra for the correct one. You actually arrive in a tent.
More bad places are Greece, Crete (HER). Matches the code - incredible lines. Also try to avoid long transit to Nigeria - Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS), Greece - Santorini Thira National Airport (JTR), Tanzania - Dar es Salaam Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR), Greece - Rhodes International Airport (RHO) , France - Paris Beauvais-Tille Airport (BVA, it is closed at night), Uzbekistan - Tashkent International Airport (TAS).
About 200 people come to sleep at Sheremetyevo every night. Do not live, namely sleep. In fact, this is the problem only of Sheremetyevo - they do nothing there. Only the most violent were put out in the cold - those who did not want to abide by the rules. And the rest still come to spend the night there, they even have their places, the airport staff knows them. In fact, this is a big rooming house. By the World Cup, these comrades are promised to be kicked out for a month so as not to shock tourists. Let's see if it works out or not.
From 20 to 100 people live in Heathrow. They also do not keep statistics there, but some time ago a whole series of articles in the press about such people came out. Eram Dar, one of Heathrow's “residents”, in an interviewdescribed her life at the airport as follows: “Living in Heathrow is like being in a good hotel. It is warm, very clean, and nobody touches you. I think it's good luck I'm here. Every night I sleep in the same place (between the American Express exchanger and the ice cream machine on the floor of the corridor leading to the first terminal). Sometimes passengers glance at me as they pass by. Night cleaners wash the floors right around me. I just close my eyes and wrap my head in a scarf so as not to hear anything around. "
About 11 people live at the Singapore airport, about one of its residents will be lower. In Atlanta - about 12. In Frankfurt - about 50 people.
Many of these people are, in fact, not homeless. Most often they had to stay because of some problems with documents. A family lived in Sheremetyevo for a very long time and tried to obtain refugee status in Russia. Our border guards released them, and the German sent them back. And also a guy named Edik lived in Sheremetyevo for a week, but he was quite well known, so they quickly gave him permission to enter.
At the airport, Charles de Gaulle constantly lived one homeless person. It was in the tenth of December 2017. So, around 5:30 p.m. in terminal 2F, he, as usual, walked around the airport trash. In the process accidentally pushed the door, it opened. And behind it is an office owned by the Loomis cash register company. And this happened exactly on the day when the company was going to export cash. The homeless man was not at a loss and took two bags. It was reported that 300 thousand euros were stolen, later the number increased to 490 thousand. "Lucky" can not be found to this day, although his identity has been established.
Feng Zhenghuwent to Japan for treatment. When he tried to get a return ticket, he was not allowed. He tried to buy it again. Again the same situation. In total, Feng tried to return to China 8 times. Before he was allowed to board the plane, he had to live at Tokyo Airport for 92 days. Upon arrival in China, he was placed under special control, and soon they completely took away his phone, laptop and put him under house arrest. This is due to the journalistic activities of Feng - for a long time he criticized the Chinese Communist Party in his articles.
The woman hiding her face (as well as her name) has lived at Singapore Airport for 8 years (and continues). She is not homeless at all, and her documents are in order. In 2008, she was overtaken by the financial crisis - the lady was left without money. An awesome plan came to her mind: to temporarily live at the airport, and to rent her own apartment until life was better. "Temporarily" stretched out for 8 years. A woman receives about $ 1000 per month, so she has no problems with money.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri- One of the most famous cases thanks to Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks: the reference to the film “Terminal” at the beginning of the text was not just like that. This man set an absolute record - he spent 18 years at the Charles de Gaulle airport, from August 26, 1988 to July 2006. Why Mehran found himself in this position is not exactly known. According to one version, he was expelled from the country, according to another - he himself wanted to leave and renounced his citizenship of his native country in order to move to live in England. But either his documents were stolen at the airport, or the British services decided that his documents were unsuitable. In any case, he was deported to France. Already in France, authorities refused to let him into the country. He survived due to what people gave him, washed in the shower, set up a house for himself from two shops in the basement of the airport. He was even given pillows and sheets. Some say that after 18 years a lawyer rescued him from there. Others believe that officials simply condescended to him. According to recent reports, he now lives in Paris.
PS A couple of days ago in Moscow it was forbidden to lie on the seats and put luggage on them.
We slept in Copenhagen at the airport, and it was scary. When I returned, I learned a lot about this type of hobby.
First, go to sleepinginairports.net . There is a huge knowledge base, there are a lot of guides from the series “Be careful at this airport, there are no outlets” or “There is zone A where it’s best to sleep.” It also shows where the shower is, where you can wash your feet (in chapels) and where the yoga room is. The yoga room is immediately a fierce wine, it is very good to sleep there.
How to sleep at airports if you are a traveler
Here is a video where a man in Domodedovo is sleeping on a working baggage tape.
This is not necessary.
So how should it be? To begin with - take a pillow with you. Canal lightweight sleeping bag, lightweight plaid or a large scarf. Take ear plugs or buy them at a pharmacy (better to take). A day at airports usually starts at 5 in the morning, and then until midnight it is noisy. You will need an eye mask - the lights at the airport are not turned off anywhere. And sometimes it also blinks. Some airports have dim light zones - for example, in Iceland, at KEF, very cool done.
Next comes food and water, because at night almost all stores are closed. I take another book and an antiseptic.
If there are stickers and a felt-tip pen, you can write something like “wake me up at five in the morning” and stick it on yourself. They say it works. When not in Russian. In Russian, you are likely to wake up without a bag.
Check airport opening hours.They sometimes close at night. For example, we flew from Paris. They did not check how many airports the airport operates and arrived there with the firm intention to spend the night in warmth and relative comfort. Everything was fine exactly until 11 pm, when we were triumphantly kicked out the door. Some of the same losers, like us, went to seek luck in the nearest McDuck, and we decided that since we still had a tent with us, we would spend the night in it. Right on the lawn in front of the airport and put it. At 5 in the morning we got up, gathered and went to make a marathon in the airport toilet. Well, have breakfast in cafes.
It also happens that some terminals are closed, so you need to spend the night not in the terminal of domestic flights, but in international ones - they are usually open. But everything needs to be double-checked so that it does not happen that at 11 pm you are kicked out of the airport in a sleepy state.
Go to the transit zone. If you have a check-in for your flight and baggage you checked in (or even go without it), then at most European airports you can go by boarding pass right into the transit zone. Inside, it’s more comfortable to sleep than on the outside of the airport - not only passengers spend the night there. Usually in transit areas there is a shower, more comfortable seats, a bunch of additional services and even a yoga room. In addition, there is less chance that you will be robbed. And airport staff will not pull to check if you are a passenger or not.
Think about security. Find an emergency room and police at the airport. Almost all civilized airports have them. It’s best to go to bed somewhere next to them - it’s less likely that you will be robbed. At least that's what it is.
The backpack must be hugged, or at least put an arm or leg on it. Some particularly nervous ones chained themselves to their bags. If you are lying on the floor, it is better to turn the backpack or suitcase with a zipper / lock to the wall. This will make it difficult to access things, and the theft process will become noisy at times. You can wrap hand luggage in a second layer in a lightweight sports bag - such as those sold in Ikea. Just don’t take the reds.
A place.If you are in the transit zone, then everything is greatly simplified. There you can sleep in lounges, in children's rooms (they usually have carpets on the floors), in libraries, in a yoga room. You can still sleep in the lounges. You can go to these areas if you pay a certain amount. This can be cheaper than spending the night in a hotel at the airport or in a capsule hotel. There was a case when one entrepreneurial traveler bought a business class ticket several times with a free exchange, return, and business lounge. He came to the airport, relaxed in the business lounge, ate and drank before departure, and for a certain time he went and changed his ticket. At some point, the airline revealed the scheme, but a couple of times this trick worked.
If there is no registration for the flight, it will not be possible to go to the internal zone of the airport. Can't sleep on the seats - look at the beautiful rubber ramps at the reception. They are soft, cold, completely anatomical in shape. You can sleep a couple of hours before registration.
An extreme option is to rent a car. If parking is free, then it can be cheaper than a night at the hotel.
Do not forget to ask.Sometimes airport employees can help with a night's sleep if you are in a “clean” zone, because in a “dirty” area it may turn out that you are simply homeless and the employee will not find out. In Charles de Gaulle you can give the whole set: a plaid, rug, blindfold, toothbrush. Then you just lie down on the floor, hug your suitcase and sleep. The main thing is to ask. Employees can themselves go with essential packages. They see that people are trying to sleep, come up and give out everything they need. At Brussels airport, rumors say that folding beds are generally rolling out. That is, it always makes sense to ask local workers. If you are not sure that you will have a good night now, just go up and ask: “And you will not give me anything?”
Each airport has its own specifics. In one place you will be left alone, and in another they can wake up and check your boarding pass every hour if you fall asleep in a common area (not in transit). Some employees simply don’t like it when they spend the night at the airport - they can expel everything.
In Singapore (Changi International Airport) there are free sunbeds:
And this is Seoul (Incheon International Airport):
He constantly argues with Singapore for the title of best airport. The sleeping areas are separate from the busy shops.
In Tokyo (HND) seats without handrails, that is, you can sleep in length. This airport also has hotels - not only for people, but also for animals.
Helsinki (HEL) has paid capsules for sleeping and pacifying sounds of nature for those who are not afraid to oversleep a flight.
It is better not to stop in South Sudan (JUB) - there are mud puddles in the hall during the rainy season and drips from above. There are huge lines in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport, JED): “I personally met an immigration officer who fell asleep while checking my documents. Then he actually left his post, just to sprinkle water on his face, and then returned and fell asleep again. ” But there is free Wi-Fi.
Then Nigeria - Port Harcourt International Airport (PHC). They say that employees extort money for literally everything. For example, they may say that the visa is incorrect and you need to pay extra for the correct one. You actually arrive in a tent.
More bad places are Greece, Crete (HER). Matches the code - incredible lines. Also try to avoid long transit to Nigeria - Lagos Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS), Greece - Santorini Thira National Airport (JTR), Tanzania - Dar es Salaam Julius Nyerere International Airport (DAR), Greece - Rhodes International Airport (RHO) , France - Paris Beauvais-Tille Airport (BVA, it is closed at night), Uzbekistan - Tashkent International Airport (TAS).
Homeless people and bright personalities
About 200 people come to sleep at Sheremetyevo every night. Do not live, namely sleep. In fact, this is the problem only of Sheremetyevo - they do nothing there. Only the most violent were put out in the cold - those who did not want to abide by the rules. And the rest still come to spend the night there, they even have their places, the airport staff knows them. In fact, this is a big rooming house. By the World Cup, these comrades are promised to be kicked out for a month so as not to shock tourists. Let's see if it works out or not.
From 20 to 100 people live in Heathrow. They also do not keep statistics there, but some time ago a whole series of articles in the press about such people came out. Eram Dar, one of Heathrow's “residents”, in an interviewdescribed her life at the airport as follows: “Living in Heathrow is like being in a good hotel. It is warm, very clean, and nobody touches you. I think it's good luck I'm here. Every night I sleep in the same place (between the American Express exchanger and the ice cream machine on the floor of the corridor leading to the first terminal). Sometimes passengers glance at me as they pass by. Night cleaners wash the floors right around me. I just close my eyes and wrap my head in a scarf so as not to hear anything around. "
About 11 people live at the Singapore airport, about one of its residents will be lower. In Atlanta - about 12. In Frankfurt - about 50 people.
Many of these people are, in fact, not homeless. Most often they had to stay because of some problems with documents. A family lived in Sheremetyevo for a very long time and tried to obtain refugee status in Russia. Our border guards released them, and the German sent them back. And also a guy named Edik lived in Sheremetyevo for a week, but he was quite well known, so they quickly gave him permission to enter.
At the airport, Charles de Gaulle constantly lived one homeless person. It was in the tenth of December 2017. So, around 5:30 p.m. in terminal 2F, he, as usual, walked around the airport trash. In the process accidentally pushed the door, it opened. And behind it is an office owned by the Loomis cash register company. And this happened exactly on the day when the company was going to export cash. The homeless man was not at a loss and took two bags. It was reported that 300 thousand euros were stolen, later the number increased to 490 thousand. "Lucky" can not be found to this day, although his identity has been established.
Feng Zhenghuwent to Japan for treatment. When he tried to get a return ticket, he was not allowed. He tried to buy it again. Again the same situation. In total, Feng tried to return to China 8 times. Before he was allowed to board the plane, he had to live at Tokyo Airport for 92 days. Upon arrival in China, he was placed under special control, and soon they completely took away his phone, laptop and put him under house arrest. This is due to the journalistic activities of Feng - for a long time he criticized the Chinese Communist Party in his articles.
The woman hiding her face (as well as her name) has lived at Singapore Airport for 8 years (and continues). She is not homeless at all, and her documents are in order. In 2008, she was overtaken by the financial crisis - the lady was left without money. An awesome plan came to her mind: to temporarily live at the airport, and to rent her own apartment until life was better. "Temporarily" stretched out for 8 years. A woman receives about $ 1000 per month, so she has no problems with money.
Mehran Karimi Nasseri- One of the most famous cases thanks to Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks: the reference to the film “Terminal” at the beginning of the text was not just like that. This man set an absolute record - he spent 18 years at the Charles de Gaulle airport, from August 26, 1988 to July 2006. Why Mehran found himself in this position is not exactly known. According to one version, he was expelled from the country, according to another - he himself wanted to leave and renounced his citizenship of his native country in order to move to live in England. But either his documents were stolen at the airport, or the British services decided that his documents were unsuitable. In any case, he was deported to France. Already in France, authorities refused to let him into the country. He survived due to what people gave him, washed in the shower, set up a house for himself from two shops in the basement of the airport. He was even given pillows and sheets. Some say that after 18 years a lawyer rescued him from there. Others believe that officials simply condescended to him. According to recent reports, he now lives in Paris.
PS A couple of days ago in Moscow it was forbidden to lie on the seats and put luggage on them.