One holiday years ago on Crete (about a four-hour flight each way), a number of more recent work flights between the South of England and Scotland, and one day-trip to the Isles of Scilly by helicopter. That last with a girlfriend when we were on holiday in Cornwall.
I've often wondered what we saved on those internal flights. They were only an hour in the air, but when you add the journey to an airport at least 80 miles away (sometimes over 100), the waiting time enforced by having to arrive something like an hour and a half before boarding, then the time spent escaping from plane to car-hire office.....
I reckon going by train would not have taken much longer.
I enjoyed the flying itself but the rest is just a chore. You can't even buy anything to eat or drink at a sensible price.
I used to be far more nervous of the airports than the flights. My prior "knowledge" of them had been films scenes and news reports showing vast mazes filled with high-falutin' looking business types who all obviously know exactly where to be and when, but still have almost to run along the endless corridors to meet their arcane appointments.
Depends on if I know the airport or not. Unfamiliar ones, 2 hours before boarding time. But our local one, 30 minutes is plenty. LAX and LaGuardia, an hour is acceptable.
SW-User
A scared-as-shite one. On my first flight ever I thought the plane was falling apart when the landing gear was being deployed. Now, every little noise and jostle unsettles me.
I wanna be there at least two hours,before boarding. I always run around looking for the gate , then I lose things like my laptop and then I need to use the bathroom and then I get hungry and , yeah. I need my preparation time! 😂