In August 2009, BAA, the company that owns London’s Heathrow Airport, hired writer and philosopher Alain de Botton to spend a week at the airport as writer-in-residence. De Botton’s book about the experience, A Week at the Airport, was published the following month and 10,000 copies were distributed free to passengers going through Heathrow.

Admittedly, we don’t come close to de Botton for sheer mental power and philosophical presence. But anyway, we wouldn’t want to be in his place – we can’t suffer an hour at the airport, let alone one whole week of just staring at luggage trolleys wheeling by.

But suffer we must because, thanks to a security regime that makes us feel as if we’re terrorists until proven innocent, we need to be at the airport hours before our scheduled flight.

Which means that we get to wait intermin­ably until our departure is announced.

And that’s not taking into consideration miss­­ed or delayed flights.

So how can we make time spent at the airport go faster?

Books are a good solution, and yet a flawed one because we need enough concentration to create a personal reading bubble.

And with trolleys snapping at our ankles and constant flight announcements droning in our ears, it will be hard to bring our concentration to a boil.

Technology, on the other hand, is a more efficient route to escapism and to fast-forwarding time – gadgets grab your attention and, before you know it, it’s time to get to your gate.

Since most of you will soon be waiting at the airport to take off for your hard-earned summer holidays, here are the best gadgets to help you pass the time.

iPad

Remember the old three-in-one consoles we had in the early 1990s? Back then, the novelty of having three devices – tuner, cassette deck and CD player – all in one was the sharpest of cutting-edge technology.

Who could have told us that one day, we would have a million-in-one device. Because that is what the iPad is – a million things in a lightweight package.

While you wait in the departures area, you can listen to music, watch films, take photos, check your e-mails, and browse the internet.

And that’s even before you’ve accessed the App Store – as that modern proverb goes, there’s an app for everything. Even for giving you advice on what to do while waiting for your flight.

Franklin global translator

People-watching is such a great pastime, especially at an airport, where so many nationalities meet and greet. But if you don’t know every language in the world – and we don’t expect you to – people-watching takes on the guise of a silent movie.

The Franklin Speaking Global Translator gives you the metaphorical subtitles to 14 languages, including Arabic, Man­darin, Dutch, English, French and German. The gadget translates up to 130,000 words and 14,000 pre-programmed phrases – translations are displayed on the back-lit screen in native characters and Roman alphabet.

You can also learn pronunciation by listening to the words and phrases in recorded voice. The translator also includes the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Sennheiser PXC250-II

If you want to listen to your music, instead of someone else’s, noise-cancelling head­phones are a must. The Senn­heiser PXC250-II headphones are equipped with Noisegard technology, which dramatically reduces ambient noise. Moreover, these headphones were designed to be as travel-friendly as possible – they are lightweight, minimal and have integrated volume control.

Flip Mino HD

There are a thou­sand ways to take video – from mobile phones to tablets and cameras, being an amateur filmmaker has never been easier.

That is, if you manage to get your head around the settings.

The Flip Mino HD is so easy to use that even a time-traveller from the dark ages can use it. There are just a handful of controls – a big, fat, red record button, one for zooming in and out and another for volume.

The Flip Mino HD also has a built-in USB that lets you plug it into a PC or Mac and automatically upload your movies. You also use the USB to recharge the battery, which lasts around four hours.

Admittedly, the 640 x 480 resolution will not earn you a viewing at Cannes – but it is still great to carry with you wherever your travels take you.

Kensington laptop lock

Laptops are one of the most stolen items at airports. Now you can protect your device with the Kensington portable combination laptop lock. It works like a normal lock and comes with a self-coiling cable for anchoring your laptop to a fixed structure.