The Dainty Traveller

The king of all airports, the don dada of all airports, the jefe of all airports the sultan of all airports… you get the point right? Can I say big? The Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is a force to be reckoned with. I have been to Atlanta several times. I remember my first time departing from Hartsfield airport, I thought I could walk to my terminal, and I remember a Delta worker looking at me like I had lost my mind when I told him I would walk after he insisted I took the train. After 30 minutes of walking and dragging my suitcase behind me. I realized that I needed to take the train. The train connects all of the terminals and is spacious, air conditioned and very fast. I liked it. One cannot be bored at Hartsfield Airport. There are more than enough food options; fast food and fancy sit down expensive restaurants. There are spas, and in recent news they will be building a movie theatre at Hartsfield Airport. So for those of you who have long layovers and don’t...

I love Costa Rica and the city and capital of San Jose! Costa Rica is a beautiful country, with rich green mountain ranges and pristine beaches on both the pacific and Caribbean coast. I have many dear friends who I refer to as my family in San Jose and Limon, the Caribbean province of the country. The San Jose airport is VERY NICE, I was VERY IMPRESSED, and the airport is pretty. High ceilings, modern, cool temperatures and a very smart layout. That is how I would describe the San Jose airport. The staff was very helpful and polite, before leaving Costa Rica you have to pay a departure tax. You can do this during your stay at all of the banks, but it is not a big deal and you can just do it at the airport when you are leaving. They take cash or credit and the lineups move very fast. Security was like security at any other airport and they got through the line quite swiftly. The eating options at SJ airport are quite limited, but enough. Washrooms are clean, and the departu...

This airport is like a smaller version of Pearson airport to me. It is very big, bright and modern. Once you land in Addis Ababa, you have to pay for a visa to enter the country, it costs $20 USD per person. That is the only way you can enter the country. We paid cash but they of course take credit. We didn’t know this when we left Toronto so we were a bit surprised. Getting through immigration and customs did not take too long and we were soon reunited with our luggage. Leaving Addis Ababa was an easy affair. The Staff for Ethiopian Airlines, the national airline, do the check in for almost every flight even if it is a non-Ethiopian airline flight. They were well mannered and almost everyone had a smile on there face. I also found it helpful that they would tell us where bathrooms and snack shops were located before security. Once through security and by our gates there were about 3 restaurants, two coffee shops and one was an actual restaurant with a large and varied menu. There are...

This airport is the city airport for the city of Toronto. So it is actually located in the city of Toronto! Right downtown. For me I prefer this airport, because I live in the city centre and it is much closer to my house. The departure and arrival part of the airport is located on an island so you have to board a ferry to get there. The ferries come very often ( I have never waited more than 10 minutes) and they are very fast. Check in is always fast at Billy Bishop and so is security. The stress level at this airport is very low, and it makes traveling much easier. The staff at Billy Bishop are exceptional! Once through security, by the gates there is a café that serves free coffee, tea and snacks! All you can eat. And good quality tea and coffee too. The wifi is free and fast and the bathrooms are large with many stalls and they are clean. Nothing bad to say about BB.

I will not be biased because I am from Toronto. Most airports are not actually in the city which it’s name carries. Pearson is no exception. Toronto Pearson airport is actually located in a suburb of the city called Brampton. Just a fact. Anyways, there are three terminals, and terminal one which houses the national airline, Air Canada, and all of the international flights is  one of the prettiest airport terminals ever. There is artwork from local Canadian artist, super high ceilings, and overall it is a modern and attractive airport. There are SEVERAL and very diverse eating options outside of security and once you have passed security. From Tim Hortons, to paramount (a middle eastern restaurant), to Italian and Mexican restaurants. The bathrooms are big and clean. The staff at Pearson are always helpful and have a smile on their face.

I thought that this airport being in the capital of Spain would be impressive. BOY WAS I LET DOWN. There are not enough bathrooms for an international airport, and there are only a few stalls in each one. The eating selection is extremely limited, with no more than 5 eating options and two of them were coffee shops. There is an abundance of shopping, but when someone has a long lay over I think they are more interested in feeding their belly than shopping… Or is that just me? I found the workers in the restaurants to be very nice and helpful. I could not say the same for the workers at the airport or airline information desks. They acted as if they didn’t want to be there, never smiled and acted like the simplest task was the hardest.

It is an airport and just that. I am going to keep this one short because well it can’t be long. The Granada airport is a small airport that only has about 4 flights a day, if so much. It is just an airport with a small café and usually only two people who do check in who also scan your boarding pass again when it is time to board the plane. Because it is such a small airport, the stress factor that many airports have, this one does not. So that is a plus. The people who work at this airport are more or less friendly and can help you with all your airport needs, all though I doubt you will have much in this small airport. I lived in Granada for three months last year, so I used this airport a lot to take me to Madrid where I would connect to flights departing for other European cities.

I loveeeeeeeeeeeee Morocco. This country is so beautiful and the food is just divine and so diverse. The people are super friendly and beautiful and yea Morocco rocks. I have been to Rabat, Marrakeck, Mekenes, Volubilis, Casablanca and Fez. In this review I will write about my experience at the world famous and the world’s biggest leather tannery in Fez, Morocco. The tannery is located in the Medina. I went with my tour group in December of 2014. We were told by our tour guide that we were actually going at a good time because in spring and summer the smell of the leather and the dye can be smelled from the moment you enter the Medina miles away. We started to smell the leather and the dyes from about one mile away. It wasn’t too bad but the closer we got the stronger the smell. We entered the shop, which houses all of the crafts from leather shoes, jackets and purses. Immediately after entering the three-story house converted into a store, we were given fresh mint to smell instead of...

This airport was half a step up from the Casablanca airport. Check in was fast and the ladies at the check in desk were very friendly. Security was fast as well, most of the security personnel were on their phones and made it clear they would rather be somewhere else. There were two cafés in the departure section, they both sold a lot of French and Moroccan pastries, a couple of sandwiches, coffee and tea. There were a lot of boutiques though. The departure section is one floor and not too big.  One thing I must say, Please listen to every announcement made. The boarding times and gate numbers are not updated on time on the screens around the departure section. Also the volume level of the P.A announcements is extremely low. Also they only announce boarding and gate closing once. I was sitting in the lounge by my gate and thought I heard my name. I am so lucky I went and asked, because it was my name that was called and at that moment they were going to close off the flight. So I ...

This mosque houses 100,000 worshippers, 20,000 inside and 80,000 outside

One word comes to mind when I think about this airport. SLOW. I arrived in Casablanca, was the first off the plane and the first on the shuttle bus to take us to immigration and customs. Why there was a shuttle bus I don’t know, because we were on the bus for 10 seconds and no more. We could have walked. Anyways, that’s how they roll in Casablanca. Every desk for the immigration officers was filled, and I was happy to see that because to me that meant the process would be a swift one. That’s what I thought. My flight of 40 people was the only flight to arrive, and somehow it took over an hour to get through security. The immigration officers were rude, almost all men and just plain rude that I had to say it twice. We filled out our customs forms on the plane, when it was my turn to go up, the officer spoke to me in Arabic and then French. I told him “English”, which he spoke and he just denied me and sent me to the back of the other line where I had to wait for 30 minutes. Finally whe...

When I arrived at Malaga airport in December of 2014 to catch my flight to Casablanca, Morocco. I was very impressed… at first. The airport has high ceilings, very modern and a STARBUCKS. Lol. Anyways, I was satisfied and waited patiently with my hot chocolate for the Air Maroc desk to open and start check in. Once I checked in and got through security, I was pleased with the eating options by the departure gates. However, this airport failed me greatly and quickly. There are no announcements on the P.A system to let you know when your flight commences its boarding. So you better make sure you are sitting by a screen or else you will miss your flight! The funny and a bit annoying thing was that there was one announcement that came on the P.A system, and that announcement was to announce that there would be no announcements on flight boarding times. Ridiculous right? Anyways, all the flights going to Africa are wayyyyyyyyyyyyy at the back of the airport in some isolated part, with only...

Kingston is the capital of Jamaica, but there is nothing about the customer service or layout of this airport that is capital worthy. To find anyone who knows what they are doing or anyone who can help you with the self check-in machines that are never working, is almost impossible. The line ups to check-in are soooo long and like I said before, good luck with finding someone who wants to assist you. My most recent trip to Jamaica was in August of 2014 and we left the island from Kingston airport, when we asked a worker to help us with the check in “situation”, she shrugged and plainly said “I have no idea” and kept on walking. She didn’t even try! There was a picture of the employee who won best customer service award, and my mother and I had to chuckle and say “can you imagine how bad at customer service the people who didn’t win were?” As Jamaicans say “sometimes yuh haf fi tek bad tings and mek laugh” (sometimes you have to take bad situations and laugh about them [to ease the str...