Uh Oh!!! - The Airport

Many people thing of the airport as that nuisance that marrs both beginning and end of your holiday. It need not be. You need to approach the airport with the right mentality, the right outlook. But most importantly, the right equipment. Something to keep you occupied, be it money, be it a book. As long as you have something to keep you occupied, you'll make it through those tedious hours in the departures lounge. If all else fails, refer to my personal favourite method - try and figure out who people are, where they're going and were they're from. That's it, airport anthropology.
You'd be amazed to see how many different races and destinations you can see in 3 hours. For example, last December I saw as amazing variety of people, from an Albertan heading home to Calgary to a businessman flying over to Shanghai for a meeting. The same occured on our way back from Cairo to London, dozens of Americans transiting back to the US via Heathrow. There was a backpacking couple, a family of 5, the whole lot. Another of my favourite departures lounge is to take pictures - some stunning materialized thanks to sticking a lens out the window of the departures lounge in the morning.
All you really have to do is keep a positive outlook, and think about the time ahead of you, rather than that behind you. I guess you can apply that to your whole life.