Play It Safe: 3 Times It's Wise To Take The Airport Shuttle

While traveling for pleasure or business, you may simply schedule a car rental drop off upon landing at the airport. Although this option feels convenient at first, being tied to a personal vehicle can actually backfire. You may end up stuck behind the wheel while suffering from jetlag, sitting in traffic or heading away from your destination. Thankfully, you have the option of leaving the stress of quickly navigating through the city with airport transportation. When you take a shuttle, you can spend the time filling out paperwork, talking with a friend or even napping instead. Read on to learn more information.

While Dealing With Jetlag

Intense fatigue caused by jetlag can lead to a serious collision if you fall asleep behind the wheel. Since the symptoms of jetlag creep up slowly, you may not even realize how tired you are until your eyes start to close.

Once you're in the middle of a drive in your rental car, you cannot simply call for a cab and take a nap. You may end up stuck napping in a nearby parking lot or just on the side of the roadway until you feel awake enough to safely finish your drive. Until researchers finish developing a jetlag eliminating medication, it might be safest to leave the driving to an airport shuttle professional.  

When Sticking To A Tight Schedule

Navigating through traffic, avoiding construction areas and finding a good parking spot can all raise stress levels immensely while traveling on a tight schedule. Thankfully, you can leave all three of those tasks to a highly skilled shuttle driver to arrive at your destination with time to spare.

Airport shuttle drivers use their own experiences or information from dispatch and other drivers to actively avoid blocked or slow routes. Your driver may even use appropriate shortcuts to cut the drive time significantly without speeding or performing illegal, unsafe maneuvers. Upon arriving at your destination, your driver can pull right up front to let you out without taking the time to find parking.

If You Don't Know The Area Well

Although you could rely on navigation systems to lead you through the city streets, recent road improvements do not instantly appear on the maps. The route update requests often go through the map hosting company to the vendor that creates the product before it goes live on the system. As a result, it's possible to receive the wrong directions that send you headed away from your intended destination, causing your stress levels to spike almost instantly.

High stress levels can lead to distraction that decreases your ability to identify and avoid dangerous roadway hazards.  Luckily, you can avoid the stress and risk by taking an airport shuttle to your destination. As a local, your driver has the routes through the city memorized, even in the light of recent construction changes.

Securing Transportation

You can book your shuttle ride when you place your order for plane tickets or right after landing on the tarmac. Unreserved airport shuttles also frequently sit right outside in wait of passengers without scheduled transportation. When speaking with shuttle dispatch or drivers, provide your destination, number of passengers (including pets), cargo space needs for luggage and vehicle preference, if applicable.

The airport shuttle can deliver your belongings to your hotel, and then drop you off at your next destination. If you require multiple stops, however, make sure to have enough cash on hand to tip the driver appropriately. Many shuttle services also allow you to tack the tip onto your final bill paid by credit or debit card upon completion of your trip.