Recently, I flew from Toronto to Siem Reap on a multi-layover trip that took roughly 27 hours from takeoff to final landing — my lengthiest flight in recent memory, and without the comforts of bougie class to take the edge off. Is it possible to make such long-haul travel slightly less dreadful and discombobulating? I posed the question to a few of the Star’s travel contributors. Here are their hard-won tips and some of my own: “I always look for fun or unexpected things to do at an airport,” says Ontario-based travel writer , who has visited at least 145 countries and all seven continents.
“I’ve taken a , where they actually drive you around on the tarmac and explain the operations of that huge airport.” At Singapore’s Changi Airport, famous for its seven-storey indoor waterfall attraction, you can also find and a , he adds. Another example of entertainment in transit is Istanbul Airport, recently ranked the best airport in the world in the Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
Here, travellers looking to pass time can visit a 2,000-book library, a games-equipped youth zone, and the culture-focused , exhibiting hundreds of works on loan from nearly 30 other museums. Singapore’s Changi Airport is home to a famous indoor waterfall, as well as a free movie theatre and a sunflower garden. If the layover is long enough to allow it (and there are no issues exiting the airport, such as visa requirements), I’ll look for something more interesting to.