Your Most Adventurous Under 24 hour Layover?

[Shirley]

I know there are many Local Guides who love to travel. Travelling can happen at so many budgets but often times, we try to find the best deal possible while seeing as many places as possible.

When it comes to air travel, depending on whether or not you are departing from a major hub city, sometimes, there may be connections. Or sometimes, when you're trying to save money, connection flights may be the way to go. Airlines often provide you with a hotel room if your connection is over 24 hours, but if it isn't, then you have to figure out what to do. For example, should I exit the airport and explore the city? Or stay inside the airport and rest up?  Some airports are really fancy and offer numerous dining and shopping options while some even have a swimming pool! 

Here's my most adventurous layover (so far) in my travel days... 

A few years ago, I needed to get from London to Hong Kong right around the Christmas and New Year holiday season. At this time, I was actually a student and I was trying to find every possible way to save money. Given this was peak travel season, there was no easy way to do this. I went through all of my usual search engines for flight options and decided, there is no way I can do a direct flight so it looks like it'll have to be a connecting flight somewhere. Still, looking at my options, anything that was relatively affordable at this time of year had really long connections, something along the lines of 6 hours all the way to 23 hours. I was really hoping for something over 24 hours so that I can take advantage of a hotel and a night somewhere, but it looks like the airlines were really trying to limit those options. Typical time recommended for a connection is about 2 to 3 hours, so which of these airports would be most entertaining... 

There were a ton of options...After a bit or researching between different airlines and different options and ended up deciding to connect through Istanbul by flying Turkish airlines. My final flight had a 12 hour connection on my way to Hong Kong and a 9 hour connection on my way back to London. Istanbul is one of those cultural cities that is both European and Asian, which was intriguing. I opted for a multi-entry visa so that I can visit on both of my connections. And as it turns out, Turkish Airlines offered day tours of Istanbul for anyone with extended connections. I was extremely excited and I still recalled that I started to adjust my sleep so that I wouldn't be jetlagged when I got to exploring Istanbul.

I got to visit the famous Sultan Ahmed Mosque (aka Blue Mosque).

Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque)

I also got to visit Ayasofya. It was at one point a mosque and a church but now it is a museum, which is why you see influences from both religions inside.

There was some construction when I visited.Ayasofya

I also had the opportunity to meet up with my friends during one of my connections. My reunion and sightseeing experiences were well worth getting a multi-entry visa, even if it was just for two days.  

So tell me, what is your most adventurous under 24 hour layover? How did you spend it? What are some ways you have maximized your connections? 

This post is partly inspired by the fact that I am currently planning my upcoming 10 hour layover in a few weeks. So keep your eyes out here on Connect to see what I ended doing on my 10 hour layover!

[NunungAfuah]

Hi @Shirley, when I was in my school, I read a lot about Ayasofia since it's a mosque and church at same point. Reading your story reminds me about my curiosity when I was kid. Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos 🙂

[Julien44]

Hi @Shirley,

Thanks for sharing these Turkish pictures. They are lovely. The blue Mosque is so nice. I really love it!

Regarding our experience of a 24h layover, I could mentionned Dubaï. We went to Thailand last July and we had to stop at Dubai. Instead of staying 2-3 hours in the airport, we decided to make it longer and to take the opportunity to visit Dubai. We book a room in an hotel to have some rest and after we visited the town. This option was great as we didn't feel too much the jetflag.

It was also a great experience as Dubai is a far away culture from Thailand. We took the opporunity to visite malls, the Marina and the Old Dubai.

First, we went to the burj khalifa

burj khalifa

For lunch, we went to one of the Dubai oldest restaurant (indian style). We enjoyed it so much. The food was so good and the best thing was that we were the only tourist in this very busy restaurant.

After lunch, at it was 45 degres outside, we had to go to another mall. We discovered the place where you can ski in Dubai. It is unbelievable that there the temperature was -2 degres compare to the temperature outside 45. We didn't take the opportunity to ski but it was amazing to see this. 

After the experience, we went to the marina with its huge boats.

As you can imagine, this day was fully optimised.

What we have enjoyed the most, was our experience in the old Dubai an espacially our lunch at the restaurant. We felt so close to the Dubai population.

Hey my friends @OSAMA, @ValeriaA_, @DavidTito, @IndiaC, @BudionoS, @LucioV, @GeorgesHR, @DhéèrajV, @MarinSt have you got nice layover experiences to share?

See you around

Jul

[SP31]

@Shirley now THAT is what I call a great use of a layover. Many people that I know find layovers to be a hassle and a time waster. I've never had a layover more than 2-3 hours, but I really enjoyed reading and seeing how you took advantage of the time given to you to explore new sights and sounds. I usually travel domestically within the U.S. so maybe that's why I haven't been as part of a longer layover, but this post has inspired me to take advantage if I ever do have one. It's worth it to go through security and everything again if you're already at a location you've never been to! 🙂

[MarinSt]

Hi @Shirley, 

Great topic. Thanks for starting it and I'm sure lot's of Local Guides will enjoy and participate in it.

I had one planned long layover when I was travelling from the U.S. to Bulgaria and there was connection on Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris. So me and my friends had to choose between 2h and 12h time span between the flights. We decided to take the late flight and to visit Paris. Of course 8-10h are never enough for a visit of this great city. This is why we didn't rush ourselves to visit as many touristic places as we can. We just walked on the Champ-Elysees Avenue, chilled in cafes with delicious cup of coffee and croissant, made some pictures at the Eifel Tower and enjoyed the sunny weather in the garden in front of this architecture masterpiece. It was a good and relaxing time spent and a promise to visit Paris again. Unfortunately I don't photos handy, but I'll dig into the old pictures to find and share some.

@Julien44, thank you for tagging me in this great topic. 

Cheers, 

Marin

[Julien44]

@MarinSt You are welcome!

I am happy that you had a nice time in Paris. I am looking forward to see you pictures.

Otherwise, I am like you. I think this topic is great and we all could learn how to optimise layover from other local guides!

[Haseeb]

Thanks for sharing your amazing travel journey on a budget 

Very nice post @Shirley I must say that this layover/stopover thing has happen to me more then 3times 🤣

One of the stop/layover I would like to share here with everyone, it was in 2011 while I travel from Kuala Lumpur to Karachi. I choose to buy a Sri Lanka airlines ticket due to its cheap rates compare to Pakistani & Malaysian airlines. 
At first, I was not aware that because of cheap rates I have to stay at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo for more than 19 hours. Once arrived Sri Lanka I choose to step out from the airport & went to explore the beautiful beach of Negombo Town.
I Stayed at Good Wood Plaza Hotel on canada friendship road & walk around the town to explore the beauty. I visited few places & took pictures which I would like to share with you 🙂

Some photographs during my stay at Good Wood Plaza Hotel, Colombo, Srilanka

[ThomasLee]

In 1980, I spent a couple of days in Istanbul. I was en route from London to Nepal as part of a 7-month sabbatical. I had originally planned on doing it all overland, but getting through Iran and Afghanistan at that time with a US passport was not wise. So I went to Istanbul to fly to Karachi, where I took the train to Peshawar, and then resumed my travels towards Nepal. I have subsequently visited the city many times, both for pleasure and for work. 

While there, I hired a local guide and we got to go to all the main places in Istanbul. 

Your pictures remind me so much of a most wonderful city. The mosques in Istanbul are truly awesome. 

Thanks for the memories.

[OSAMA]

Thats great story @Shirley , we live woth you in your adventure :-)))

Istanbul is veru very nice City :-))))

[OSAMA]

Very nice photos @Julien44 :-)))

No layover till now 😁😁😁😁