If you have never been at an airport beyond check-in desks or arrivals/departure halls, here are some rules and steps to follow.

Steps:

1. Be very careful from which airport or terminal you will depart. Major cities and capitals have more than one airport (e.g. London has 6 major airports – City, Southend, Gatwick, Luton, Stanstead and Heathrow, Paris has 5 – Beauvais, Orly, Chales de Gaulle, Vatry and Le Bourget, New York has 2 – JFK and La Guardia, Rome has 2 – Fiumicino and Ciampino, etc) and these airports have several terminals (e.g. one for Domestic flights, one for Schengen, one for extra- Schengen or international departures, etc). The distance between them is very big, as most of them are located in small cities far away from the main one (e.g. one is in the south, one in the north, etc). The terminals can be very big and they can be separated so moving between them can be done via bus or train shuttle (such as the airport in Lisbon or Rome)
2. Arrive at least 2hrs prior to your scheduled departure – the time written on your reservation. If your flight is scheduled at 15:50, arrive at the airport at 13:50 or earlier
3. Look on the Departures monitors to locate the check-in desks
4. Go to the airline’s check in desks to drop your checked in luggage and perform your check-in (if it’s free and you didn’t check-in online at least 3hrs before departure) and  collect your boarding pass. Usually the gate is already available when check-in opens and it will be printed on your boarding pass. If you do have any luggage to drop, already performed check-in and you have your boarding card on your mobile phone, proceed to security check.
5. Go to the security check gates and scan your boarding card
6. At the security check:
   1. Take some trays and go to the queue where the security agent instructs you to go. Remove from your carry on bag or luggage and put in the tray: laptop, tablet, phone, camera, charger, cosmetics bag (remember, 100ml or less recipients in a Ziploc bag of 1l capacity) and any other lithium battery device, as instructed by the security agents. Remove your watch, jacket, hoodie, cap, belt and empty your pockets. Put them in a tray. Depending on what shoes you wear, you might be asked to remove them as well. Go through the screening gate when the agent signs you to pass
   • If the gate beeps, you will have to undergo additional checks. DO NOT PANIC!
7. After you passed the security check, go to passport control. Have your boarding card and your passport at hand and answer the questions the border police might ask – usually such as: where are you travelling to, for how long, business or leisure, etc
8. After passport control, as you enter the duty-free area, look on the monitors to locate your gate.
9. Be at the gate at least 40 minutes before departure. Boarding usually starts 30 minutes before scheduled time and closes 10 minutes before departure
10. Boarding can be done in phases, depending on the airline’s or airport’s policies.
    1. Usually the first to board are business class travelers, families with small children and passengers with reduced mobility. If the airline doesn’t have business class, then priority ticket holders, families with small children and passengers with reduced mobility.
    1. If the terminal is used, some airlines might board first the passengers with seats in the back of the plane, for example
    1. If bus is used, the boarding is done via front and back door. If your plane has 36 rows and your seat is 25B, use the back door 😉
    1. Remember, you already have a seat assigned to you and nobody is going to take it (well, there are people that should have never left the cave, but that is a different story)

Airport rules:

• DO NOT MAKE ANY BOMB JOKES!!! Don’t stay in the line at the security check and say things like “what if they find a bomb in my luggage?”, not even as a joke!
• DO NOT LEAVE YOUR LUGGAGE UNATTENDED OR IN SOMEONE ELSE’S SUPERVISION! If you travel solo, take your bags (including trolley) everywhere you go, even at the toilet. There is enough room to fit your trolley inside the toilet cabin. Do not ask anyone at the gate to look after your bags while you are away! Any unattended bag can be considered a bomb threat!
• Time flies when you are having fun and duty free is so tempting. Put an alarm on your phone at least 40 mins before departure, if your gate is far away from the shops
• Pay attention to the monitors, as gates can change anytime. Listen carefully to the airport announcements.
• DO NOT LEAVE CHILDREN UNSUPERVISED!
• DO NOT SMOKE IN THE TOILET! Some airports have designated smoking areas while others are completely smoke free (such as Amsterdam Schiphol, airports in Spain, Portugal, etc). In those that are smoke free, do not light a cigarette in the toilet or smoke heated tobacco or vape in the toilet! There are smoke detectors everywhere and they are very sensitive to smoke, for obvious reasons
• DO NOT GET DRUNK BEFORE YOUR FLIGHT! You might want to have a drink to cool down your anxiety, but you can be denied boarding if the personnel at the gate sees that you are already intoxicated.
• Last but not least, for the love of God and everything holy, DO NOT TRY all the perfumes in the duty free! There are special smelling cards, you do not have to try all the Chanel new or classic releases on yourself

Tips and tricks:

• Dress casual and comfortable. Avoid high heels, tight clothes or shoes. Super shorts and sleeveless shirts are a no-go. First of all, the temperature in the plane is kept between 20-22 degrees Celsius and it can be cold. Second, the seats are not as clean as you might think they are.
• Keep your passport and boarding pass at hand all the time. Keep them in an easy to reach pocket in your bag, as you need them at duty free purchases and at boarding
• Do not use the USB charging ports. They are not safe from a data protection perspective or they can be compromised. Trust me, I work in the IT industry 😊 instead, use the plug sockets.
• Even if the airport looks clean, some areas are not as cleaned as thoroughly as they should be.
• Avoid the sandwiches and usually the airport food. They are very expensive and not sold. For example, a sandwich in an European airport can be up to 12 euros. When you pay 20 euros on a flight with Ryanair, spending 12 euros on a sandwich is a no go for most travelers. Bring your own snacks, you are allowed to pass through security check with your own sandwich.
• Avoid to put your backpack or purse on the floor
• Avoid FaceTime or WhatsApp video calls without headphones. Also, take into consideration that phone coverage might be lower at airports due to the proximity of radio towers. Please do not yell or speak very loud while on the phone. We do not need to hear your drama. We already have ours 😊