From foot-kicking neighbors to an overly-talkative seat-mate, it’s always a gamble when you step aboard an aircraft. Flying can be exhilarating, stressful, boring, and downright scary at times.
I’m here to give you a few simple tips to ease the burden when you take to the skies and possibly even make your travels downright enjoyable!
Prioritize Comfort
Sure, you may want to step off the plane in New York looking fabulous in your jeans or new dress – but you don’t want to sit for an extended period in them. Think comfort and ease, whether it’s your favorite wrinkle-free skirt, yoga pants, or t-shirt. Don’t discount comfortable footwear either. It’s very common to retain water weight on planes, puffing up in the ankles and feet, so sneakers or flat footwear with some room are best.
Don’t forget to layer! Consider the air-conditioning of the airplane, and then your arrival destination. If they’re vastly different, pack a spare outfit in your carry-on to change into prior to landing. Also, I love to take a lava lava in my carry on back which can act as a quick blanket if needed and it takes up no room in my purse or my laptop bag. Blanket scarves are a great option as well that double as a pillow or a blanket in a pinch.
Set the Mood – For Sleep
If you’re on an overnight flight, increase the odds of getting some shut-eye with a good sleep mask, neck pillow, and earplugs. Never mind how they look, getting that shut eye is way more important than the opinions of strangers. When ever I am on an overnight or long flight I am a big believer in 2 things. One, making sure I get that window seat so I can lean up against it, if you were not able to reserve it at booking you can usually call 24 hours before the flight to change your assigned seat. And the second thing I always take on flights 8 hours or more is Ambien or a sleeping aid. If you choose to implement a sleep aid here is the key. You must only take the proper amount for the time you will be able to sleep on the plane. For example, I know I can usually get away with sleeping consecutively 4 hours, so I will only take 1/2 an ambien pill. If I take a full one, and can only get 4 -6 hours, I will be super groggy and a little light headed for the next half of a day. So its a good idea to split those sleeping aids in half. I usually watch a movie, pop a pill for 4 hours sleep, then end with another movie, and voila! Then you’re there!
Pack Provisions
Bringing extra snacks means you’re not at the mercy of the busy flight attendants, and you can stay satiated (and hydrated) on your own timeline. This will also keep the impulse Pringle purchases to a minimum, saving both your credit card and your sodium levels.
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!
And I’m not talking about drinking water. Bring moisturizer, and even keeping a chapstick handy for your lips. The recirculated air on airplanes is notoriously drying, and between that and the decreased blood flow thanks to your 30,000ft altitude, your skin will suffer. One of my personal favorites is the mini bottles of Evian facial spray, for a quick and refreshing pick-me-up mist.
Listen Up
Bring your own headphones, not only to be able to connect to the inflight movies (if your headphones are still compatible with the in-seat port) but to fend off chatty neighbors. Are the headphones even plugged into anything? Only you know, but it sends a clear message that you’re not available for conversation.
I love that there are many options for inflight entertainment, but what if they have a small snafu, best to have some podcasts downloads or queue up your own favorite binge worthy tv shows to make the time fly by! Vampire Diaries anyone?? Game of Thrones?? What’s your guilty pleasure…..
Clean it Up
I am a fan of always bringing my own travel size wipes and/or hand sanitizer, and ensure you give your seat tray and armrests a thorough wipe down before settling in. There’s often a very short time when turning around a plane, and rarely do they receive deep cleaning treatments.
Tried, Tested & True
Now is not the time to break the mold and try that new skin cream you’ve been wanting to try. Stick to your favorites and well-used versions of everything, so you have no surprises at 30,000 feet.
My Game Changing Secret
You ready for the biggest and best way to enhance your in flight experience for long international flights?!? This one is compliments of my amazing husband. Who wouldn’t want to fly first class when flying over seas? The marketing of the airlines is on point with making the economy passengers walk grudgingly pass those comfy first class lay down beds on their way to the back. The last trip we took, I said I’m done not flying first class, and meant it, until we wanted to book first class to Dubai and seats were well over $5000 per person! $10,000 for a 14 hour flight, couldn’t be justified. But my sweet husband suggested we find out if we could purchase an extra seat next to us and that way between the two of us we would have an entire row and lots of extra room. On our last trip to Bora Bora we were just lucky and there wasn’t anyone next to us and we took turns laying on each others laps, stretching our legs out over the extra seat and snuggling up and it made ALL THE DIFFERENCE. So here is the thing folks…. you can actually book an extra seat for comfort purposes and get the first class room (or close to it) with only a fraction of the cost. All in all, booking an extra seat for us didn’t cost us anything extra. We had some extra miles we used to fly to Seattle, which is where the non stop flight was to Dubai. Booking straight from Seattle instead of Salt Lake made the flight $500 cheaper per person, so we used that extra money to book the extra seat.
Slc – Dxb was $1500 per person $3000 total
Sea – Dxb was $930 per person $2800 total
So with just using a few extra sky-miles to Seattle, we endured the 14 hour flight in some luxury and saved $200!
If you don’t have a credit card that gives you sky-miles its time to jump on that wagon today! Don’t let anther day go by without building your sky-miles bank. My favorite is the Delta AmEx as I think Delta’s skymile program is the best. This link will get you the most amount of skymiles you can get with a welcome offer!
Happy Flying!
