I remember when my mom booked my recent trip to China; I was flying from Canada and unfortunately, there were no direct flights at the time. Therefore, my ticket consisted of a layover in Germany, which I was not looking forward to at first.
The layover was over eight hours, and I thought that perhaps, that was too long. After all, I had to fly from Canada, which was another 8.5-hour flight. But fortunately, I ended up enjoying my layover more than ever.
Here are five reasons why I prefer a flight with layovers:
1.You get to meet new friends
Back in Toronto, when I was in the line waiting to check my bags in and grab my boarding pass, the girl in front of me looked back at me and smiled. I never thought that I would talk to this girl. But I did end up conversing with her, during the layover.
We were both headed off to different destinations, but we boarded the same initial flight. Our conversation consisted of our favourite parts of the flight, and our least favourite parts. If it wasn’t for the layover, we perhaps would have never talked as we were sitting in different areas.
2. You get to learn more about different countries
I know, sometimes in layovers, you can only stay in the airport and all your knowledge about a specific country will be confined to what you witnessed at the airport.
But although you’re only staying at one place, you can observe the environment around you. You can see how others interact and how they work, which is the first step of breaking intercultural barriers. By doing this, you can expose yourself and get an idea of the country and the culture.
3. You get a break from a flight
Although you are arguably spending more time on the airplane, with both trips combined, the bright side to a layover is that you get some time off the flight.
The direct trip from Toronto to Beijing is usually around 13-14 hours long, one way. However, the layover allowed time to be split up between two different flights, which allowed me some time to rejuvenate and prepare for the next flight.
4. You get to try more airplane food
Sure, you can argue with me that airplane food isn’t the best, but it’s always worth to try different food from around the world.
If I took the direct flight from Toronto to Beijing, I would only have the opportunity to try a three-course meal. However, due to my layover, I was able to enjoy four meals in total, from two different airlines. And there’s nothing better than more food, especially on a long, exhausting flight.
5. You get to try out a new airline
My recent flight consisted of two airlines; the first flight being Air Canada, and the second flight being hosted by Lufthansa. If I took a direct flight, I would only be able to go on one airline. However, the layover allowed me to learn more about different airlines and see how each airline operates. This made the trip more interesting.
As a result, layovers may not be as hectic as many would have maybe thought. In reality, a layover can allow you to build different friendships and meet different types of people. After all, being in an airport may sometimes be better than being stuck in a cabin.
Photo by Marco López on Unsplash
