Charles Stross is a brilliant science fiction writer. As it happens, he has a weblog, too.

Here are his tips for long-haul travel: Charlie’s Diary: Arrive Alive (Charlie’s tips for long-haul travel)

I found the following quote, however, laugh-out-loud (or “lol”) funny:

Few things are as soul-crushing as trying to make sense of the public transport infrastructure of a foreign city at what your body insists is three in the morning, with thirty kilos of luggage on tow and no money.

I have lived that soul-crushing experience several times, and he’s so very very right.

• My first trip to Italy. My flight from Orlando to Gatwick is delayed by 3 hours. Thus, I miss my ~9am flight from Gatwick to Venice. Since Disney (my employer at the time) bought me the cheapest tickets possible AND seems to have assembled the itinerary as two separate tickets (Orlando to Gatwick (collect bags, stand in line, check in with Alitalia) then Gatwick to Venice), I had no rights with Alitalia. They stuck me on the 9pm flight. I killed close to 12 hours in Gatwick. When I landed in Venice, nobody was there to meet me. I couldn’t seem to procure local currency because of the late hour, I couldn’t figure out the pay phone, and I couldn’t hire a cab because I didn’t know where I was going. I curled up in a corner of the airport and waited until someone found me.
• Our trip to London last April. We had a decent flight, and I even managed a few hours of sleep, but when we landed (again, Gatwick airport), the train scheduled made no sense to either of us. The combination of routes (there are multiple ways to get to Southampton), train companies, platforms, train numbers, express vs local… it was a lot to parse.
• It’s fun, at the same time.