A seasoned traveler shares 6 things she never does at the airport

• The airport can be a challenging, frustrating place, with its confusing signage, lack of quality food options, and long security lines.
• Being unprepared at the airport can add stress to your pre-boarding experience and even cause you to miss your flight.
• To avoid feeling anxious or unprepared, there are certain things you should absolutely never do at the airport. Here are six of them.

Navigating the airport can be frustrating — with confusing gate locations, lack of quality food choices, long security lines, and expensive baggage fees, it’s not the most fun place to spend an afternoon.

Being unprepared at the airport can add stress to your travel experience and even cause you to miss your flight. Since I take dozens of flights every year, I like to prepare for the airport ahead of time by creating a mental checklist of the things I will do when I get there. Here are six things I never do at the airport, so my trips are as stress-free as possible:

SEE ALSO: I've flown at least once a month for the last year — here are 17 things I never travel without

1. Buy food at airport vendors

Instead of buying food from expensive airport vendors, I pack a supermarket sandwich and healthy snacks, like a bottled smoothie and mixed nuts.

2. Print my boarding pass at the customer service counter

I prefer to print my boarding pass before I head to the airport. If I don’t have time to do that, I use my airline’s phone app or the kiosks, which helps me avoid long lines. Being prepared with my boarding pass ahead of time has helped me make several flights while running late.

3. Check a bag on trips under a week long

On weekend or week-long trips, I don’t check my bag and instead pack my things into a carry-on. According to SITA, an air transport IT company, 5.73 bags per thousand passengers went missing in 2016.

Because of the risk of losing my luggage, I prefer to pack my things into a hard-case rolling bag that will fit easily in the overhead bin. Having a roller is also easier on my back when walking long distances to the terminal.