Sleeping in Dublin Airport
Feb 21st, 2007 by Ian
We have found that it’s often a lot cheaper to fly out of Dublin or Glasgow and there are many more destinations available from these airports, than from Edinburgh airport. We decided to fly to Dublin and then go to Croatia, for a grand total of $173CAD each.
Oana had never been to Dublin so we spent a day at the beginning of our trip and a half day on the end of our trip touring around the city. Traveling cheap was our goal, and since our flight to Croatia didn’t leave until 7am the next morning, we decided to try out sleeping at the Dublin airport. There are some good websites that help you gain a little confidence that it won’t be a horrible experience – we read Sleeping In Airports.
In order to prepare for our adventure we brought several items:
- Ear plugs
- Eye mask
- Neck pillow
- Warm hats and gloves
- Emergency blanket (50/50 aluminum/polyester, the kind in your car’s first aid kit)
- Water & snacks
- MP3 player with music, or in Oana’s case, books (purchased at a 2nd hand shop in Dublin)
Overall I thought the experience went quite well and I was surprised that Oana concurred.
We got back to the airport after our day of touring Dublin around 8pm – a little early for going to sleep but we wanted to make sure we got our choice spots. We spent about half an hour walking around the airport scoping out potential sleeping places. As we walked around we noticed other people already setup and seemingly getting ready to spend the night. Having done our research, we found some choice hidden spots – we each had a 3-chair bench row and a little table to ourselves. I was a little concerned that the airport would be cold, it being February and all, but it ended up being warm enough that we didn’t have to break out our emergency blankets.
Our refuge was located near the entrance to the staff room, past the car rental desks, and since there was a fair amount of staff traipsing past our chairs, we read until 11ish and then bunkered in. Around an hour later an airport police officer woke me up and asked about our flight – when it was leaving – and asked to see our flight confirmation. He was pleasant about it and after a couple of questions left on his rounds. There were unattended luggage announcements running all night, but there was no speaker right over us and the ear plugs helped diminish the noise considerably.
5am came somewhat quickly and the morning shift staff started streaming past us. The airport police officer came by once more and said we had to either sit up or find another spot as the area of the airport we were in was now open. Our flight was at 7 so we got up and found some breakfast before joining the insanely long passport control lineup.
Not sure if we’ll ever sleep at the airport on purpose again but in the case where we have to, we’ll be experts. The biggest downside for me was the dryness of the air: drinking extra water and applying chapstick before going to sleep might have helped.
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