How to Survive a Long Flight
After years of flying, I've come up with some great ways to be comfortable during a long flight. The goal is to get enough sleep to last through the rest of the day when you reach your destination, that way you can sleep through the night and get onto new time zone as fast as possible. If you're arriving at a destination in the evening, try and stay awake enough hours on the plane so you can sleep through the night when you get there. Below are some tips and tricks for sleeping on a plane, as well as being comfortable and entertained while awake.
Bring headphones
This is a #1 for me. If you want to listen to a podcast, watch in-flight entertainment, or listen to music you'll want to have a pair of headphones handy. The ones they pass out on the plane are never great quality. If you have a new iPhone don't forget a converter for your headphones to connect to in-flight entertainment.
Download entertainment to your phone
Hopefully you're flight has in-flight entertainment, but it never hurts to have some backups. I once had a faulty video system on a long flight and didn't have anything to fall back on. You can download episodes or movies from Amazon, Netflix and more. When you hit download it syncs to your phone and will be available offline. Do this at home while you have a fast wifi connection. The same goes for podcasts. There are all types of podcasts available, like news, unsolved crimes, love, invention, and history. You can also sync music from apps like Spotify, Amazon Music, or iTunes. Last, you can download books from audible to listen while you relax.
Bring A Neck pillow
Bring a neck pillow to keeps your head upright. After trying many out, my favorite is the Trtl neck pillow that wraps completely around your neck. This way, you can shift the positioning of the hard piece that props you’re head up to the left, right, or center so you’re not doing the head drop the whole flight trying to sleep. The other nice thing is that the soft piece can be washed.
Bring an eye mask & ear plugs
When someone leaves their window open, or if you're tired on a day flight, you can block out the light by putting on a comfy eye mask. Bring ear plugs to block out engine noise or the occasional screaming baby or toddler. This eye mask from Amazon is really soft and has eye cut outs so the mask isn’t smooshing down on them.
Take off your shoes
It's a long flight, and your feet swell at elevation, so get comfortable and take off those shoes. It's best to wear shoes with socks so your feet will stay nice and warm.
take Melatonin
You can bring things like Simply Sleep and other sleep aids, but I recommend the more natural sleep remedy, melatonin. Take it about 30min to an hour before you want to snooze.
Stay hydrated
Airplanes are so dry. Stay feeling fresh and moisturized with eye drops, lip balm, a facial mist, and eye cream. This way you won't show up to your destination looking and feeling like death.
If you know of any more great tips and tricks for flying, please leave them in the comments below!
