Snoozing on the Concourse

When we planned our "currently postponed" trip to Greece, we were anticipating sleeping in the Athens airport on our last night in Greece as our flight was going to leave the next morning at 4:50 AM. We've dealt with delays before - those aren't really new to us so killing time in airports is old hat. Yet, we had never slept in an airport.

Well, it's good to know that in this day and age, you can find a page dedicated to, you got it, sleeping in airports. Some people do so simply because they have no choice while others do so because they're tightwads. Yeah... really.

So, The Budget Traveler's Guide to Sleeping in Airports is actually a really interesting page. It confirmed a couple of things for me.

a) Athens would have been a good airport to crash for one night
b) Charles De Gaulle in Paris is universally considered a sty, as we experienced during a five hour delay on the way to Zurich.

Based on reader submissions, the page lists the "favourite 10" and "Airports you would rather pay to avoid flying through/from".

The top?

1. Singapore (Heard it's awesome)
2. Hong Kong
3. Helsinki
4. Seoul Incheon
5. Oslo
6. Kuala Lumpur
7. Amsterdam
8. Athens
9. Auckland
10. Vancouver

The worst offenders?

1. Moscow
2. Quebec City
3. Paris Beauvais
4. Paris CDG (big shocker!)
5. Manila
6. Los Angeles
7. Delhi
8. JFK
9. Lviv (!?)
10. Chicago O'Hare

Obviously posed photo during a 5 hour delay
on the way to Palm Springs in 2004

This entry sounds like someone fresh from the airport...

PARIS (Contributed by ?)
12/2006 (Terminal 2 - Main Lobby / Check-in counters / Boarding Gates / In Transit) - "I got a 12 hour layover in CDG and it is one of the worst airport i have been. Water is cold the restroom stinks the staff are rude try to speak with them and they will just give you a blank stare and the freakin bars are so expensive and they will shoo you away if you buy a cold sandwhich from other cafe. With europeans like a steam train smoking like hell if you want to have a lung cancer stay in this airport. There is also this annoying announcement every waking time. Really noisy and mind you transferring from other terminal holy cow they herd you like bulls ready to be turned into corned beef imagine thousand of passengers are diverted to this small screening area. To sum it all it sucks." Added 01 April 2007

Moscow sounds lovely, as well...

MOSCOW (Sheremetyevo) (Contributed by Gibby)
August 13, 2006 (Terminal 2 - ML) - "This actually is my wife's story. She is an ethnic Russian who was on her way from Canada back to Kyrgyzstan for a visit with family. She arrived safely in KGZ but ended up dropping $70 in Sheremetyevo 2 in a ten hour span. $5 for bottled water. $15 for booze. $40 at a second floor restaurant in which she selected the cheapest fare, and ten dollars on a bribe. After sitting on the ground for several hours she managed to grab a bench and slept there until awoken by someone trying to get into the knapsack she was using as a pillow. She moved from her bench after a woman nearby vomited. Several hours later my wife passed the spot and the vomit had not been cleaned. Being Russian she was able to fend for herself in this toxic environment but even she found the place awful. On her way back from KGZ she is taking sandwiches, beer, toilet paper, and water. " Added 28 August 06