If you love travel, there’s no escaping long haul flights.
Here’s our tips on: improving your journey, making the most of the flight and arriving a a fit state for dealing with the hassle of an international airport with little sleep.
We always do the following:
Covid:
Follow all protocols and own your space.
Take your own surgical wipes to thoroughly sanitise your seating areas – don’t forget monitor controls, the inflight screen and arm rests.
Daytime flights:
Own your space – try and make your area as welcoming as possible. Even pre Covid, we used to wipe down the whole area, and we take a plastic bag in hand luggage for our litter.
Boredom – surviving daytime flights is mainly about boredom, so download tv series or podcasts and take snacks on board.
Stopover – we prefer daytime flights, so for long haul journeys, we often check if we can take two day time flights via a travel hub. For example, you can often overnight in Dubai, Qatar or LA for the same price as a through flight. It takes longer to stopover, but you arrive at your final destination refreshed and you get to see an additional city briefly.
Night Flights:
Best seats – try and get the best seats for snoozing. We always ask at check in, the gate and when we board if there’s any free rows on the plane then we head for those, though this may be tricky post Covid.
Clothing – wear comfy clothes/sweat pants and take something warm.
Food – we try and eat before the flight to allow maximum snooze time and if you want to take sleeping tablets or melatonin make sure you take them after the seat belt signs turn off in case the plane returns to the airport.
Freshen up – being as awake as possible on landing is key. Use face sprays or splash your face with water to freshen up on landing. Clean your teeth as soon as possible. It all helps.
Plan ahead – research onward travel from the airport to your destination in advance. Even the most seasoned traveller can be prey over-priced taxi rides and scams in the arrival’s hall.
If there’s no train link to the city, we pre-book a taxi to avoid hassle and in some cases this can actually work out cheaper.
Caffeine – we always buy a cold coffee or caffeinated drink airside before the flight (airplane coffee never does the trick). Being alert helps with the hassle of navigating immigration, baggage reclaim and customs. There won’t be real coffee until the arrival’s hall, and sometimes not then if you arrive very late or early.