Not very long ago, my mom was silly enough to book a flight that departed at six o’clock in the morning.  If you figure that you’re supposed to be there two hours before the flight leaves (though I don’t know why, at that time of the morning), that meant that she would need to be there around four o’clock, which would require leaving the house at three o’clock.

Usually when my mom flies anywhere, she has my dad drive her to the bus station, where she catches a bus out to the airport.  This is basically because they are too cheap to either pay for parking, or pay for the gas for my dad to drop her off.  But there aren’t any busses that run that early in the morning, so my mom decided to take the bus out to the airport the night before, and wait all night at the terminal.

I found this an incredibly DUMB idea.  For one thing, it just doesn’t seem safe, waiting at the airport overnight.  I know there’s security and all that, but… still.  Also, she wasn’t likely to sleep much sitting in the chairs at the terminal, and therefore she would be exhausted the following day.

If you accidentally book a flight that is too early, and you live a long ways from the airport, I think the best thing is to stay at a hotel near the airport.  Most airports have hotels nearby, if not in the airport itself.  For instance, there is the Phoenix airport hotel.

I think this sounds way better than sitting in the terminal all night, don’t you?  I mean, those chairs are hardly even comfortable over a several hour wait, let alone all night long!

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