Are you relaxed? No, because you’ve been traveling? Why not combine business and pleasure in the future and take a closer look at what airport lounges have to offer.

“Do you want to bet?” The most famous travel bet in the literary world was made in a lounge in the London “Reform Club.” In Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days,“ the British gentleman Philias Fogg bets that he can travel completely around the world in 80 days. Clubs like this aren’t necessary meant to have their visitors leave again so quickly, though. Their purpose is more to make the visitors be able to feel at home, switch off and let their minds drift to different or new thoughts. In this way lounges, which are now available for business travelers in almost every airport, are comparable to clubs: you do not have to travel around the world after leaving them.

Business travelers find a lot of what they need to relax in airport lounges: they offer an important and generally also an exclusive place to get away. That’s why it is just as common in the world’s more than 1,000 airport lounges to find businesspeople who are preparing a presentation as it is to find those who want to just put their feet up, relax, and have a drink while reading a book. A relaxed atmosphere, good service, and (depending on the lounge and access authorization) free refreshments and snacks are the little amenities that can take on great significance in a hectic schedule.

Here business travelers can find a safe haven where they can “breathe and work,” even as outside chaos reigns in the form of canceled and delayed flights or overcrowded departure terminals – alone, with colleagues, or increasingly with business partners. Because they have access to copy machines, PC’s with internet connection, W-lan, fax machines or sometimes even flip charts, businesspeople can conduct meetings that would have been canceled due to inclement weather.

Some airport lounges even offer more than the standard equipment of a bar, stools, smoking rooms, small tables, TV’s and a wide assortment of current magazines and newspapers; nowadays it is not uncommon to find a laundry service, prayer room, showers and even places to sleep as well. And unlike a club, hotel or conference center meeting rooms, the departure gates are always close by so that the distance to the plane is minimal and most people can stay in the lounge until their boarding is called.

For the most part, the only passengers who can gain entrance to airport lounges are those who have booked a higher-class ticket, have earned a high status in a frequent flyers program, or have an exclusive membership in a credit card program or an “Airport Lounge Program” that must be paid into, such as the one from “Priority Pass” www.prioritypass.com.Some lounges charge an additional entrance fee.

For those who are interested, a current overview of offers at airport lounges can be found among other places at loungeguide.net (a wiki guide for worldwide airport lounges), airlinequality.com (which contains discussions about lounges), lounges.net (mainly for the USA and the UK) or staralliance.com (for StarAlliance lounges).