peachfront

I suspect the post is a wind-up but for the price of an air mattress get a buddy to drive you to the airport and the next time you go out, the beers are on you. An air mattress is around $20 even at Kmart so you are not really saving much money over the $50 cab ride by the time you buy an air mattress and whatever other treats you require to get your through the night. If you are so friendless no one will drop you off in exchange for a pitcher of beer and next time you be the one to drop them off, I'm not sure what else to say. Heck for the projected cost of $30 bucks for air mattress plus, you could buy the friend a couple of martinis even in DC!

Doc Savage

You can get a little pool float mattress for $3-4 and it makes resting more comfortable. You will likely not get any real sleep. Otherwise, it is certainly do-able, and I used to do it in student days to save money on travel.

Peachfront, your comments are rude.

serioustraveler

I'm not friendless but I prefer not to have a friend need to wake up at 3am or so in order to get me to an airport.

That said, I already have an air mattress.

If anyone has slept at DCA overnight I'm interested to know how cold it was, whether bringing a blanket is necessary, if they frown on inflatables/air mattresses, etc.

Mabuk dan gila

A few times in the past I've picked up one of the pool type mattresses like Doc Savage posted. They were literally like $2.99 at Walmart. New in their original packaging they are an extremely compact and flat so they are nothing to carry. After use I have more than once just threw them away in the nearest trash bin since at $3 per they are practically a disposable commodity, not worth lugging around after they have outlived their intended purpose.

pinkcat

I dont have a problem with it, it wasnt the most comfortable experience of my whole life but not too bad, a pool float would have made it much more comfortable!
This was February in EWR, as a 43year old woman travelling alone, I didnt feel unsafe or anything

wahooflyer

If I were you I'd sleep at home and take a cab. The extra money you'd spend on the cab would be worth the peace of mind and sanity of not having to sleep at DCA.

When I was younger I very rarely used taxis, but now the time saved vs. waiting for public transit makes a cab ride more appealing. (i.e. spending $20 to go from Rosslyn to DCA in 10 minutes, vs. having to schlep my bags and fight the crowds on the Metro).

ryandelmundo

I've done more than a few overnights at the airport. Sometimes its actually fun. There's always a bunch of people doing the same thing for the same reason. Try and find them, you're kindred souls. Might make some new friends. I wouldn't worry about anyone stealing from ya. Most people just lie on top of or next to their bags. No one is going to steal it. If you want to steal bags at an airport, you just go to the arrivals area and take one from the carrousel, not from someone who might wake up and chase after you.

You can always find a Denny's somewhere and just hang out for 4-5 hours drinking coffee too

pbd456

train yourself to sleep on the floor at home first.
i used to sleep in my office when i was a graduate student with a sleeping bag.
then i learned sleeping in the airport later. the skill works well. and i log over 30 nights a year for sleeping at the airport to save money.
with eye shade, ear plug and sleeping bag, i sleep pretty much everywhere flat.

Seat 2A

I personally think YOU must be somewhat crazy to "highly recommend going all out and bringing a tent and air mattress to make things less horrible." You wouldn't have anywhere to leave your tent or mattress afterwards, so they'd be forfeit. Where are you going to pound in those tent stakes, btw? Might as well just suck it up and pay $50.00 for that cab.

As for sleeping in airports, it ain't all that bad if you're prepared for it. Most people aren't PLUS most people seem to suffer from this ridiculous stigma of how horrible it must be to sleep in an airport. How low have I sunk? What will others think of me?

Thankfully I grew up playing in the mud and dirt, riding bikes without pads and helmets, climbing trees without supervision and not getting neurotic about germs or what others thought about what I did even if it didn't happen to be in the mainstream. So when it comes to sleeping in airports, if it makes sense financially or otherwise, then I'd just DO it and don't get caught up with all this other BS. What's all this nonsense about air mattresses and tents? What - you've never slept on a floor before?! Just bring a small pillow and find a nice carpeted area or some chairs you can stretch out on. Bring some eye shades as well as a small alarm clock. And you might consider a blanket because some airports can be a bit chilly at night, even inside. If you don't want to drag that blanket down to Jamaica with you, then pick up a cheap one at a thrift shop. And if you don't do thrift shops, then God help you. Have a good trip and a good night!

P.S. A Thermarest Pad is a lot more comfortble to sleep on than an inflateable pool type mattress. They roll up nice and compactly but cost about $40.00. Below is a picture of my set-up when I sleep in airports. That pillow goes on top of my daypack.



How to sleep well in an airport. I put the pillow atop my daypack.

cfuss

I was a flight attendant in my previous life, and would get drunk and miss late night flights and have to find places to crash.... Like airports. Pre 911 it was easy to find good places to crash, afterwards i got hassled.

It has been 10 years since i had to crash on an airport floor, and am really interested to see how loose security is now days (judging by this post).

I reread the OP... I say bad idea. Not because of anything else but the sleep in an airport sucks, and should only be done out of necessity... Or serious intoxication

Ryvyan

I'm going to be sleeping over in an airport if my travel plans change early next year. I think the best thing to do would be to find out where the best seats or spots are!

BuildingMyBento

If you happen to be at KUL, it never seemed too busy late at night, particular in the area behind the escalators that lead to immigration (there's a Chinese restaurant in one corner). If you are transiting from the main terminal to the budget one, and manage to kill enough time, there's a cafeteria in the budget terminal area (never mind that there's a Tune hotel en situ as well) with wi-fi. Unfortunately, I can't recall if it's a 24-hour cafeteria.

I've also stayed overnight at HKG in a restroom stall, not fun but not loud (it was a rather disconnected restroom in T1, pre-security, though I reckon T2 would have quieter ones, as it's much less used, at night anyway).

ryandelmundo

You mention transiting. If you arrive very late and your flight isn't until the next day, you might want to stay inside the airport after you arrive.

I've had two friends go thru Singapore with "overnight" connections. One left the terminal only to be stuck on the outside because he had to go fetch his luggage, while the other one waited inside. We all know the Singapore airport is a nice one to be stuck inside! You can read my review of the airport here

The ticking doesn't open until 7am or so.

Happy overnighting! I'

Ivelisse

Last year i spend two nights at Heathrow and one in Barcelona, was my first time flying across the pond, and trying to save every little cent i could i booked Tucson-London with United, and 20hrs later a flight London-Madrid with British, and same thing on the return (this time was just 12hrs but also on the middle of the night).

To prepare for this i read sleepinginairports.net to get an idea of what to do, before departing i put on my backpack that i was using as carry-on a clean tshirt, deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, a small blanket (and i kept the blanket from the plane too, sorry but i'm a desert girl and London was too cold for me!! one blanket wouldn't have been enough), neck pillow and a hairbrush (since i'm a girl with long hair and didn't want to look with crazy hair the next day!!), and after paying a few pounds to keep the rest of my luggage safe i hit the city to see as much as i could, and at night i returned to the airport, decided to stay on the arrivals area of T3 since i had read that was a good place to sleep and my next flight departed from that terminal, got some nice large bench all by myself, used my neck pillow, my blankets, and had probably 5hrs of sleep, security wasn't a problem, the airport was quiet after midnight (not frequently loud announcements), and on the early morning i went to retrieve my luggage, went to one of those huge family bathrooms, did a cowbow bath, put a new pair of clothes, bought a coffee and ready to go for my next flight!!! Was a good experience for my first night sleeping at an airport!!

Then was my night at Barcelona, i had a 6am flight with RyanAir, and the buses and metro start at something like 5am so, my only option was to sleep there, since i didn't had luggage was just with my carry on this was uncomfortable between the loud announcements, the cold floor (no blankets this time!), the security people coming frequently and asking for your tickets (if you didn't show any paper that said you had a ticket they would kick you out of the terminal!!), good thing was that around 4 or 5 when security opened i was one of the first persons to pass to the secure area, grabbed a bench and sleep a few minutes before the plane started boarding.

Return flight to London i arrived late, couldn't pay to keep my luggage on a safe place, so, i put everything on a cart, but put my shoes and my metallic water bottle on this position that if someone moved the cart would made a lot of noise, so that was my anti-theft system, again used my blankets and pillow i had probably 6 good hours of sleep on a bench next to the counters of some airline, was really quiet, i sleep until the workers arrived at 6am and started with check in for their customers.

So, on my overall experience has been good, you also meet lots of people on the same situation than you, if you can't sleep there is some people who will also be awake and you can talk to them and share stories, is a good experience!! of course an hotel or hostel is better but sometimes the budget or time make it impossible so, just do it!! but before do your homework and read a little bit about it, which are the best places to sleep, take with you some stuff to make your stay more comfortable (blanket, pillow, etc), just try to keep your mind open, do it and at the end you will have a cool story to tell friends and family back home!

Apieinthesky

If you do this right, I've found this to be quite an effective pillow, in addition to the security issue.

I'm a guy and I can't imagine traveling with a pillow on me. A light blanket, maybe.

I don't travel with my backpack too often anymore, but I used to use the backpack-pillow technique in my high school years