Stranded! An Airport Survival Guide

Seven sanity-saving tips for handling severe weather

By Candyce H. Stapen

GROUNDED: Don't let air mishaps get you down. Get proactive! (PhotoDisc)

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It happens a few times a season. A major storm closes all airports over a wide region and you're stranded, ticket in hand, with no idea how to get where you're going or what to do in the interim. In summer it can be hurricanes, heavy rains, thunderstorms, or high winds that stymie your travel plans for days, but every season has its natural disasters…

One winter a major blizzard hit the East Coast when my daughter Alissa and I were vacationing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We found ourselves on a Sunday amid crowds and confusion trying to get Alissa back to her college in Boston and me home to Washington, D.C. Here's what we learned the hard way on how to survive a major airport delay.

Away.com's resident family expert Candyce Stapen has written the book on family travel, having authored some 1,400 travel articles and 27 books, 26 of them on family travel. She is the winner of the 2004 "Caribbean Travel Writer of the Year for North America" award and a three-time winner of the Society of American Travel Writers' Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism award. Her articles have appeared in publications including Nick Jr , FamilyFun , Parents , Better Homes & Gardens , Conde Nast Traveler , National Geographic Traveler , and the Family Travel Network , among others. Her book, the National Geographic Guide to Caribbean Family Vacations is available from Amazon.com.

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Last Updated: 15 Sep 2010
Published: 11 Apr 2005
The details, dates, and prices mentioned in this article were accurate at the time of publication.