Moment Couple of ‘Anxious’ Travelers Realize They Took Things Too Far

A woman and her friend have shared how they had the ultimate “anxious traveler” experience when they arrived at the airport so early it was practically empty.
While traveling from Punta Arenas, Chile, to Santiago, Chile, as part of a 43-hour itinerary back to Los Angeles, Sara Yegan and her friend arrived at the airport far too early, only to find it nearly empty.
In a now-viral TikTok video, which has been viewed over 140,000 times, Yegan shared the moment they arrived before even the airport security staff had clocked in for the day.
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The video’s text overlay explained: “Anxious traveled so hard we arrived to our tiny tinyyyyy airport with only 3 gates before security could clock in for the day.”
Yegan said there was some method behind their madness.
“This was for a very long itinerary back to Los Angeles—about 43 hours of total travel time,” she told Newsweek. “Most of the time had to do with crazy long layovers and two separate travel itineraries with different airlines. We missed one of our initial flights to Santiago, San Salvador to Bogota, so we didn’t want to take any chances.”
When they arrived at the airport and realized that even security hadn’t arrived yet, Yegan admitted they were “a bit embarrassed.” But she explained: “I didn’t want to take any chances of missing another flight, so I accepted it. Also, being from L.A., I’ve never seen such a tiny airport before.”
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Faced with hours of waiting at the very small, empty airport, the friends were able to make the most of the time.
“[We] definitely just caught up on some sleep. Luckily, I can sleep in most uncomfortable places. My friend was the anxious one who wanted to get there super early, so I think he was just watching videos on YouTube,” Yegan said.
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Generally speaking, airlines recommend arriving at the airport at least two hours before departure for a domestic flight and between three and four hours for an international flight. This ensures enough time for baggage check and any security checks or delays at boarding gates.
The video sparked viral discussion, and many people thought it was a relatable moment.
TikToker Chloë commented: “This happened to me in Sonoma. I sat on the curb outside until the workers got there.”
TikTok user Rown shared: “I moved from a city with an international airport to a town of 3000, there’s not even security at the airport and this is me every time.”
Even some companies got in on the action, with Booking.com commenting: “Anxious traveler final boss.”
“I can be an anxious traveler, so I’ll usually never regret heading there early,” Yegan told Newsweek, but she did admit she might try arriving a little later next time. “But if a case like this happened again, then I’m definitely going to try getting there a bit later.”