Airport Terminal Number disasters

Note departure terminal and arrival terminal.

Disaster Story Of Two Terminals
Members of our family recently left an airport from terminal 3 (Singapore).


Several hours later, somebody - I won't say who, told the car meeting us at the other end (Heathrow): "We are at Terminal 3."


On arrival, the terminal's number is on very small sign which we walked past without noticing.

Our arrival terminal was terminal 2. We were left in the cold waiting.

After a long conversation, 'you are at level so and so?'
"Yes, so am I - but I can't see you,"
"Your car number?"
"Number of passengers and bags?"
"Let's go through it again, such and such an airport, yes, level so and so, yes, terminal so and so ...?"
 At 'terminal so and so', we realised what was wrong.

The taxi wanted extra money for the extra time - and paying two lots of entrance to two car parks.

Moral for travellers: Rememberthe different terminal numbers at both ends.
Moral for taxi drivers: Check not just level but terminal, and tally it with the airline's flight arrivals. If a particular airline does not arrive at terminal 2 or 3, no wonder they are not there.

Moral for airport designers:
Name the Terminals and levels in large letters - and give pick up points numbers. Terminal 2 with two cups of tea.  If I am waiting at G for ground - picture of Giraffe, level one one Giraffe, level two two Giraffes,  but my taxi has three teas, maybe red-brown for basement, green for ground, sky blue for level three.

Colour Coding Car Parks
Disney - in Florida I think,  uses animals for car parks. You need the colours as well as animals. If you remember on day one it was crocodile, a reptile, and on day two it was a large four-legged animal - then you come back and don't remember whether it was a black silhouette of an elephant or camel or zebra or horse.

Colours in Paris
A car park in Paris used colours for different levels. I remember we looked at the blue sky with white clouds and thought, this is not where we parked our car.)

Feedback For Planning and Upgrading
Singapore asks the public for suggestions.
Heathrow terminals have feedback forms. Please add your thoughts to their forms.

If you do so, thank you for your help making life easier for all of us travellers.

Handy Websites
https://www.heathrow.com/arrivals

https://www.visitsingapore.com/travel-guide-tips/travelling-to-singapore/changi-airport-singapore

Author Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer. Author and Speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Recycling Suitcases & Bags, Pre-packed

In the good old days when everybody had only one handbag, and it was a good one, a bag came with a zip up pocket containing a zipped purse attached by a chain to the bag, and a tiny mirror.

If you buy Travelog bags, they often come with multiple pockets and some models even come with a tiny torch attached. My experience of tiny torches is that the battery is always dead and you cannot find how to turn them on. In fact you often can't find them at all. The more pockets you have, the longer it takes to find anything.

Second-hand and Vintage
I do recycle - buying second hand bags on eBay. Some people have many co-rodinated travel outfits. Others travel with just black and white. A black and white jacket does for summer and winter and lightens an all black outfit which otherwise looks like you are chief mourner at a funeral and/or suffering from incurable depression. In my heyday as a travel writer, when I was often doing two trips in a week, I used to keep my travel clothes permanently in the travel bag.

Quick Pack And Unpack
One tip I picked up from a friend at the Writers' Holiday, pack one outfit per day and at the end of each day, put your clothes back in the suitcase, (perhaps in a bag marked laundry or a hotel's laundry bag), so on the last day there's only one outfit to pack. When you get home, put everything in the washing machine - don't waste time sorting out whether there's one item you never wore.

Colour Coding
If your clothes are colour coded you wore everything. For example, black and white on Saturday night, red on Sunday, orange on Monday, pink on Tuesday, green on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday, blue on Friday, black on Saturday.

No time or space for complete outfits? One, two or three basic outfits, shirt or trouser suit, dress or caftan in a neutral colour. Beige, or black skirt and white blouse, with a tie or scarf or cravat in a different colour.

Jewellery
Jewellery silver or gold or silver or gold tone, or black and white, or three two colour necklaces, one red and pink, one green and blue, one yellow and orange. You could make your own from beads if you are handy, or buy a set of multicolour bangles. or buy two of those magnetic bracelets which wind around, one for a necklace and the other as a bracelet. You could even use a third to make decoration for your belt or bag or shoes.

The packing list stays taped in the lid of the larger suitcase or front pocket of the small carry-on one.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.