Comment by mattmaroon
2 days ago
People are told to eat less processed food and more vegetables and yet we’re all fat. Nobody listens.
Anybody who listens to this either doesn’t travel much or is the sort of person who’d get there that early anyway. Unless I’m checking a bag (which means I’m going somewhere that I’m anticipating bringing a lot of stuff back) I lazily aim for an hour early and am closer to 45 minutes. I’d be even later but there’s substantial chance of random traffic between me and the airport I most frequently fly out of.
I take at least 6 - 8 flights a year and I have never needed to show up to the airport 2 hours early, but for some reason, I still do. Maybe it's superstition? I almost always end up at my gate within 15 minutes of walking into the airport (thanks TSA PreCheck!) That being said, even if I could confidently start showing up 45 minutes before my plane is about to take off, I'm essentially just sitting around at home, waiting to get a ride to the airport. So I'm either sitting in a chair on my laptop at home or doing the same at the airport. At least the airport has a Starbucks.
It depends on the airport and when you show up, but walking straight through security with TSA PreCheck is becoming less and less of a sure thing. At SeaTac, checkpoint #5 is PreCheck only and it can still take 20-40 minutes at busy periods.
It's probably still worth it, but just keep an eye on checkpoint wait times if your airport publishes them and don't just assume PreCheck means you can show up whenever.
I find you can really breeze through security if you've got wheelchair assistance for someone in your party.
Of course, you might end up waiting an hour for the chair.
Clear is the new PreCheck. So many people have PreCheck that it is frequently not significantly faster now.
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I cannot relax before I’ve physically visited the gate, starting from the night before. I sleep poorly before a flight, waking up a hundred times to glance at the clock to make sure I haven’t overslept.
I’ve never overslept. It doesn’t matter.
So, my mental options are 1) give in, get up, take a leisurely trip to the airport without worries of an unplanned traffic slowdown, get through security, stroll to my gate to make sure I know where it is, then find a lounge and chill in relaxation knowing that everything’s fine, or 2) stress out that something might go wrong and make me miss my flight up and wish I’d left earlier.
I know me. I’ve done this plenty of times. This is my choice. So I go with the first every time: get there too early, then chill more than I possibly could if I were anywhere else. Either way I’m going to be up and moving. Why not use that time to radically de-stress my morning?
Had to check your screen name to make sure my dad didn’t just find out about HN :) He’s very much like that and this is exactly what I meant about some people who would get there very early anyway. I get it.
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> I cannot relax before I’ve physically visited the gate.
Haha, oh lawd I can relate. After getting through security with hours to spare before boarding, I make sure to check that my gate actually exists before I can relax.
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That sounds awful. Have you tried thinking what’s the worst thing that could happen? It’s no so bad.
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If it makes you feel better I’ve flown a bit more than that (not a ton more) for 25ish years and only once have I missed a flight as a result. And it was a Sunday morning leaving Las Vegas during March madness so really, I knew better.
I’ve talked to touring musicians who say they aim for 15 minutes before boarding.
Have you tried looking for the 'more vegetables' option?
It effectively doesn't exist. "Salads" are nearly all BS lettuce leaves with some sugary condiments and overly sugary dressing to make up for the complete lack of flavor.
Sides are a hit/miss even if you do ask for a vegetable option.
I have not seen a vegetable forward, optimized for taste and texture option on _any_ menu I've looked at all year. Professionals can't figure out how to do this. How am I, a non-chef with very little time, supposed to do better?
If this isn't continuation of the analogy that I'm not getting:
- Salad A: Cut celery bite size, add lemon and salt to taste.
- Salad B: Cut cucumber in slices, add yogurt, spritz of vinegar, salt and pepper, small spoonful of sugar. Search Gurkensalat for decent instructions.
- Main A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuffed_peppers
- Main B: Any good cabbage stew / soup recipe, looks awful, is delicious.
- Main C: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moussaka
> I have not seen a vegetable forward, optimized for taste and texture option on _any_ menu I've looked at all year.
I'm guessing you do not patronise Indian restaurants; they usually have tons of good vegetarian dishes, including several vegetable-forward ones.
If you don’t make your own food or hire private chefs (which is more doable than you might think) it’s a challenge for sure, but if you are that busy, so is getting to the airport three hours ahead of your flight