As I’ve mentioned previously, travel blogging is not easy and it doesn’t get any easier when you encounter a lounge dragon who forbids you from taking pictures of a hotel lounge and airport lounge. Whenever I encounter a lounge dragon and they tell me, “No pictures”, I kindly inform them that I’m just practicing taking pictures on my new camera phone. Sometimes this will work and they will leave you alone. You can also tell them that you’re part of the media and hand them a business card. Tell them that you’re actually a ‘mystery shopper’ and that you’re not suppose to disclose that.
Here are some ways on how to overcome a lounge dragon:
1. Hotel Lounge – Take pictures of the hotel lounge outside of the normal ‘evening appetizers’ and ‘breakfast’ time window. This will ensure that a lounge attendant won’t tell you anything (sometimes a lounge attendant is staffed at all times). During evening appetizers and breakfast, secretly take pictures when the lounge attendant goes to the back room or away from the buffet spread.
2. Airport Lounge – Take as many pictures as you can before the airport lounge dragon informs you of the made up ‘no picture taking’ policy. Kindly abide and start gathering your food slowly. To grab the remaining pictures, get up every so often to grab a coffee, snack, water, juice, etc and sneak a picture in between. As I’m leaving the airport lounge, snap the last three pictures of the lounge and get the heck out of there quickly.
3. On the Plane – First of all, it’s really tough taking a ‘clean’ picture of an airline cabin in the first place. Right as you board, try to take a picture of the cabin before the flight attendant tells you ‘No pictures’. If you couldn’t take a picture of the cabin, you will need to head to the lavatory after takeoff. Right as you leave the lavatory, sneak in a picture as you go to your seat.
How else can you overcome a lounge dragon?
Backtrack to Every Travel Blogger’s Worst Nightmare
I overcome the no pictures thing by holding a stuffed penguin up in front of my camera. People think I’m so weird they are reluctant to tell me I can’t do it.
I must be lucky I have never been told I can’t take pictures, but I am discrete and don’t make a scene or act obnoxious. Not implying that others do, but I try and be respectful, and wait till a spot I want a picture of is empty.