Once upon a time, my blog had a very strong focus – pilot wifestyle. My husband was a newly minted airline pilot, and it took a while to get used to the lifestyle. For a while, there were very few pilot wife bloggers, and we were a pretty tight knit group. Because pay was so low in the first years, the main benefit of being married to a pilot was flight benefits. Even though I was at the very bottom of the standby list, I loved to take every opportunity possible to get out of town. And often that meant getting stuck in airports.

But over the years, I got a little tired of writing all the blog posts about airports, flights, delays, mergers, FAA rulings, non-rev nightmares, and long-distance relationships. I switched the focus of the blog back to me, and the things that interest me…namely health, music, pop culture,  blogging and social media. I still travel more often than the average person, but I haven’t had to sleep in an airport for a long time. When I came across this infographic by TravelSupermarket,  it reminded me of all the times in 2007-2009 I was perpetually stuck at the airport.

To see the full graphic, click here.

About 2 years ago, I presented at Ignite Salt Lake, with a presentation called “Enjoy Your Time At The Airport, Whether Or Not Your Junk Is Touched.” Please don’t mind how unprofessional my performance is…I was really nervous, felt awful, was short of breath and I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia the next day.

It was at the height of the controversy over airports in the US installing the backscatter image security scanners, so the presentation does focus on that. However, I talk about sleeping in the airport, especially at Salt Lake City airport. I no longer travel with my CPAP machine (because my sleep apnea has improved greatly after losing over 120 pounds), but back when I slept in airports often, my CPAP machine took up a large portion of my carry-on suitcase.

Have you ever had to sleep in the airport?