Hearing a recent discussion concerning the planet’s greatest flights made me recall my first true long-haul flight to Sydney, Australia, for the 2000 Summer Olympics. About six hours into the flight, I was feeling confident and strong. I clearly recall thinking, “Six hours down, nine to go. No sweat, I got this”
Four long, boring hours later, it was a different story; you might have poured me into a bucket. “Five hours to go? I don’t have this.”
But get there I did. Unfortunately, that meant I had to get back too, a flight where I made a significant strategic error, which resulted in distress for me and amusement for my friends on the flight–about which I’ll tell more in due course.
However, not all long-haul flights have to be unhappy; on a single direct flight from Tokyo to New York, I was nearing the end of a book I was playing immensely, also remember distinctly thinking, “No, no, just a bit more time!” PA that we’d started our descent when the pilot informed us over the in-flight. Here are 10 strategies for preventing boredom, dehydration, deep-vein thrombosis, sleep deprivation and more so you can say “I got this” next time you’re imprisoned in a metal tube for a complete waking day of your life.
Upgrade
You have no friend on the planet than your regular flier miles when traveling long-haul. About the Tokyo — Newark flight I had been frustrated to see come to a conclusion, I enlisted the aid of my travel agent to find flights where I could burn up all my Continental miles to upgrade my whole trip. It intended catching puddle jumpers to my final destination at Japan (Gifu), however a few short extra flights were a little price to pay for 27 hours of exceptional legroom, fully reclining chairs, edible meals, entertainment and breathing distance.
You almost have to know nothing more than this, if you quit reading at this stage from the guide–by hook or crook, try to obtain an update. (Much Dr. Timothy Hosea, from whom you will hear beneath, offered this as his first and most significant suggestion.)
Escape
You will wish a rock-solid plan for frittering away several hours of your flight, and that I don’t mean functioning; staring at spreadsheets and writing proposals may burn up hours, but it does not make them disappear. You need these hours to evaporate without a trace. Think cans and Hollywood blockbusters. Getting a lot of work is fine–rarely do you’ve got 15 consecutive hours with no phone or email, so that I encourage bringing some workbut function will fail you when you reach the barbarous middle hours of the ordeal. Headphones and Hollywood; do not stray from this.
Spring for the airline’s cans, cover and watch every movie, swipe your card to the DIRECTV, bring your iPad packed with your favorite flicks–whatever it takes. See also our list of the best airplane publications; those page-turners can kill a few hours.
Don’t Carry On Too Much Stuff
While checked luggage prices are inspiring travelers to carry on more and more stuff, on a long distance flight this may burn you; anything that is beneath the seat in front of you just means less legroom and a more cramped living room for 15 or 16 hours. Do not bring much on that you compete for your space.
Bring Your Go-to Gear
When it comes to surviving flights, I am not a gear guy. I can’t be bothered to haul around neck pillows, eye masks, earplugs, noise-canceling cans, etc.. –except on a long distance flight. As I note above, your total carry-on haul should be limited, but you might want to think about a few of these comparatively compact survival gear. Your body and mind will thank you for every little comfort you can supply, along with the hassle of packing and carrying them around is dwarfed by the distress of 15 hours in flight with crying children, pilot announcements, engine sound and a significant crick in your neck. Gear up.
Galaxia Air Sleep Mask
Watch Details
Carry On Cocktail Kit
Watch Details
Bose SoundTrue around-ear cans II
Watch Details
Board Relatively Rested
Do not rely on a long tail flight as a good place to catch up on sleep–it is not. As intuitive and attractive as it seems to have on a long-haul flight extremely tired, trusting to sleep the entire way, you are in for a world of hurt if you can’t sleep for any reason. You’ll be on the plane long enough to grab a few winks even if you’re somewhat rested, and my advice would be to take it when it comes; when your eyes begin to droop, get out the eye covers and earplugs, and go with this. Should you throw off a solid two-hour rest on a few added rounds of Angry Birds, then you might be mad at yourself afterwards.
Secure Your Stuff
A long-haul airport gives unscrupulous travelers plenty of time to size up the position of your wallet, wait till you fall asleep and make a move on your luggage. Secure your valuables heavy within your luggage where it would take a TSA X-ray machine to find them. Consider things like your passport, credit cards and cash.
Running Belt
See Details
RFID-Blocking Passport Wallet
See Details
AquaVault Beach Safe
Watch Details
Take a Sleep Aid
If you are planning to use sleep aids (such as “natural” methods like melatonin, or prescription drugs like Ambien), try them until you fly with them. A few years ago a friend gave me an Ambien pill to get a red-eye flight from Honolulu to New York City, and the medication acted more like a stimulant than a sleep aid. I was awake the whole flight and felt unhappy to boot. These medications may vary considerably in how they impact people, so you will want to try them in your home until you rely upon them on the plane.
Dr. Timothy Hosea, staff doctor and Chair of the Sports Medicine and Research Committee for the United States national rowing teams, sometimes prescribes sleep aids because of his athletes, but notes, “If you feel you need a sleep aid but haven’t used those medications before, you should probably try out taking Tylenol PM or Benadryl. A prescription is good with your physician’s approval, but do not experiment on a long flight; [the plane won’t] stop for you!”
Dr. Hosea also states that, as the team doctor, he fails to take any medication while flying with the group if someone needs care. “I bring a book, see the films and try to allow the flight pass,” he says. His strategy is ideal for other travelers who need to get their wits about them, like individuals flying with children, for instance. If a person could potentially need one to be 100 percent during the flight, then you ought to forgo any sleep medication. For more advice, watch Sleeping on Planes.
Utilize SeatGuru
On the flight back from Sydney mentioned above, I phoned ahead to get my seat reassigned to an exit row–big mistake. Unbeknownst to me, the exit row seat I picked was a window seat at one of those large, thick exit doorways, which encroached on my leg area such I needed to sit sideways in the chair for the whole flight. It was also similar to an “exit aisle,” found right at a restroom, therefore there was unlimited and noisy foot traffic that the whole flight. I was lucky that the remainder of the row was vacant, but it wasn’t much help; the armrests didn’t go up, so I couldn’t lie round the 3 seats in the aisle.
Obviously, mine would have been a “yellow” or perhaps “reddish” chair on the SeatGuru chairs graph if it had existed in 2000 (the site was launched the following year). Eventually I moved around the aircraft amassing all the newfound cushions and blankets I could find, piled them up in each of the three seats, and produced a workable (but in truth not very comfy) platform across all 3 chairs–and got a very few winks of sleep during the flight. I suppose it was rather comical, as buddies all took pictures of me during the flight due to their amusement. Glad you had an enjoyable flight.
Before you choose, think hard about your typical taste of depart vs. aisle chair; it may differ on a long-haul flight than on a shorter trip. If you generally choose an aisle seat, think about whether you need your long, Ambien-enhanced sleep to be interrupted by an aisle partner; likewise, if you usually select a window, then you could get trapped in there with a snoring person in a prescription drug-induced stupor. For More Information, see Get the Best Airplane Seat.
Request About Chairs at the Gate
Failing the ability to select chairs that are great try again at the gate. If the flight isn’t complete, the gate agent may be able to see an empty row, or place you and a travel partner in a “window and aisle” configuration that reduces the likelihood of having someone sit at the center chair, thereby getting you a seat and a half, at least.
Take Care of Your Health
Hydration: if you believe hydration is a concern on a cross-country trip, try tripling or quadrupling your time in the air; you may as well spend 15 hours lying on the desert floor. Imagine you’re going to walk to Winona, Arizona from Flagstaff. How much water would you bring? Try to drink about that much.
Dr. Hosea recommends drinking “electrolyte solutions, Gatorade being the best known, instead of solely water” Hosea says that maintaining electrolyte balance is important, and that you don’t want to become completely diluted with water, especially for older people or people with other medical problems.
Deep vein thrombosis: DVT, the formation of blood clots in deep veins, is known (if occasionally overstated) risk on further flights. According to the National Institutes of Health, the probability of developing DVT increases when flights go more than four hours. The NIH’s hints include walking up and down the aisles of the plane; moving, bending and stretching your legs to promote blood circulation, especially on your calves; sporting loose and comfortable clothing; drinking plenty of fluids and avoiding alcohol. Furthermore, if you are at increased risk for DVT, your physician may recommend wearing compression stockings while traveling or taking a blood-thinning medicine before you fly.
Dr. Hosea notes that the combination of being immobile in addition to the consequences of dehydration increases the risk of DVT on long flights. He strongly urges the following during excursions:
— Hydrate well the evening before the trip, rather with electrolyte drinks.
— Do not drink alcohol the night before the flight.
— Avoid diuretics like coffee, soft drinks and even chocolate (all of which include caffeine).
Have a baby aspirin the night before and day of your trip.
— Get exit row or an aisle seat so that you can get up and walk whenever possible.
Susan Francia, an Olympic gold medalist in rowing, has taken to wearing compression socks long flights to competitions, although she has stopped short of wearing a full body suit. (Hosea discounts the need for the body match as well: “You are really worried only on your knees and calves.”) Francia has seen a positive impact from the compression socks, which Hosea notes can be simple “support hose.”
“I’d note that my ankles were smaller,” Francia says, “probably because they were mashed into old lady socks”
Colds, the flu, germs, etc.: like I wrote in Preventing the Airplane Cold, it is not “air quality” that’s of concern when you are flying, or recycled atmosphere, or anything of the sort–it’s your body’s compromised capacity to manage normal germs and viruses that places you in danger of becoming sick after a wreck.
That is not to say that the general environment on a plane does not add to a risk of becoming ill. Recent studies have discovered that the water coming from aircraft sink faucets can be rife with bacteria from sitting in murky holding bins; the chairs, blankets and cushions on planes are more germ-ridden compared to your laundry basket; your tray table is probably dirtier than your own bathroom floor; and that the seatback pockets–well, you do not even need to know, apparently.
Francia remembers a trip on the road into the Rowing World Championships last year at which she considered wearing a face mask; the total U.S. rowing group had contracted the swine flu on a World Cup trip earlier that summer, and she was being attentive. Francia requested. “Great idea, but it will not help,” was the conclusion. There’s simply too much stuff all around one. In the end, your very best strategy is to bring along a few bacteria-killing wipes, clean up your seat place as best you can and unwind; there’s not much more you can do.
Let us face it electrolytes, compression socks, movie after movie, and aspirin do not change the fact that you are stuck in a metal can to get a whole day. Just keep reminding yourself that this too will passalthough I recommend saving your “I obtained this” until the wheels touch the ground.
Evian Natural Mineral Water Facial Spray Trio, 1.7 ounces. Traveling Size
See Details
Hydracy Fruit Infuser Water Bottle
See Details
Yes To Cucumbers Soothing Hypoallergenic Facial Wipes
Watch Details