Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll be flying from Ottawa to Sydney Australia. It's my first really long flight: Ottawa to Montreal to LA to Sydney.
So, any tips and tricks from the hive regarding travelling for long periods entombed in an aluminium tube?
Thanks,,
Paul
Battery chargers for whatever movie/music/entertainment source you have (like one of these https://www.amazon.com/Portable-Charger-Anker-PowerCore-20100mAh/dp/B00X5RV14Y )
Snacks
Paying extra to get a seat you can survive in.
For me, the keys are to distract your mind from thinking about how much more time there is and sleep as much as possible.
I routinely travel
lax to Hong Kong
lax to Tokyo
lax to New Zealand
planes have plugs to plug in whatever you need. Some airlines have terrible selection of movie (fiji air).
I usually fly Cathay /singapore and no issues.
have fun
bring your own pillow !
Try and get a window seat , put pillow against the wall and try to sleep ,
earplugs , beanie cap , N95 face mask these days, hoodie because it can get cold,
Try and sleep as much as you can ,
phone / tablet with movies / cartoons (Tom + Jerry) and music , but try and sleep !
I squirm and I'm restless flying 4-1/2 hours from Chicago to LAX.
I've found movies keep me relaxed. Getting up often is good. I would bring some Benadryl.
Ear buds and Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here album was always good for my on Cleveland to LAX Flights.
Awesome, thanks folks!
Home stores have ear plugs with headphone built into them. I use them even without music just to read in silence, or close to it.
Sound canceling headphones work wonders for me.
Wear comfortable clothes in layers.
Try to get up every few hours if possible.
Pack a spare set of clothes/basic toiletries in your carryon
Stefan said:Sound canceling headphones work wonders for me.
Wear comfortable clothes in layers.
Try to get up every few hours if possible.
Pack a spare set of clothes/basic toiletries in your carryon
After my first flight ls March with NC headphones I will NEVER fly again without them. Be sure to get up and move. The flight from Chicago to Seoul was brutal but the NC and the miving helped.
Noise canceling headphones x1000
Kept them off on one flight though because the cute 20-something from Spain wanted to chat with me.
I could have listened to her read the dictionary.
We flew to Australia this year, 13 hours each way.
There is in flight entertainment, fairly new movies actually.
Planes are hot, like....berkeley you hot. If either was under 80 degrees I'd be surprised.
I think most that fly to Australia are red eye flights so you get fed about 4 times during the flight. Food ranges from" well ....it wasn't terrible" to " hahahahaha this isn't food"
If you bought the lowest ticket....upgrade to the economy plus right now. Be terrified about how bad the plus seats are and realize that the $300 was the best money you've ever spent. Not first class though, it's stupid spendy though.
People suck and you will be very close to them. You will hopefully be next to someone cool.
Sydney is...... interesting. Go to Mjolner! And remember the sticker shock isn't bad, our money is worth about $1.50 of thiers.
What airline?
I'm flying Virgin Australia. I'm Canadian, so our dollar is pretty much at par with $AUS. I'm there to visit my son in Sydney. From his perspective, the cost of living in Sydney is very similar to the cost of living in Toronto. I can relate to that, as I lived in Toronto for 15 years.
I disagree "planes are hot." I think long international flights are actually very cold. You see 99% of the people on long flights, with blankets on top of their sweaters/etc.
However, when I fly LAX to PHX or LAX to LAs Vegas, planes tend to be hot and stuffy.
Food wise, I think it depends what you preference is. I prefer Asian food. I find China Eastern/Cathay food to be delicious along with Singapore and Malaysian. THough I stopped flying Malaysian.
Worse food IMHO is British (worse than dog food), Fiji (terrible imitation of Indian), Turkish (unlesss you like bland kababs), American (flights to Tokyo)
Probably too late now but you can ask for special meals
and you do know about the Toowoomba Swap meet next weekend......
I’ll third (or fourth or whatever) noise cancelling headphones.
Don't know when you're taking off but try to time yourself to where you're going as best you can. Flew Richmond VA to Tokyo (still need to follow up on the thread about that) leaving at like 6 am on a Thursday and arriving at 2 pm Fri local time. We did our best to wake up stupid early and time it such that our bodies thought that it was the afternoon when we got there.
Head phones, dress in layers, walk around, brush your teeth, watch movies, look at the flight tracker info, new GRM/book to read, drink water (stay hydrated and walk around), they may have complementary alcohol (or not, might help with sleep)
I've done DTW to NRT and DTW to ICN a few times. Noise-cancelling headphones are an absolute must. I fly Delta, and the in-flight entertainment options are actually pretty decent. But I still put plenty of movies and TV shows on my tablet and/or phone. I also make sure I have some podcasts downloaded so I can rest my eyes/neck from watching stuff, too. If you can swing it, economy-plus is a lifesaver. Normally on domestic flights I'm a window-seat guy, but on longer ones, I try to get an aisle so I can get up every couple of hours to go to the bathroom, walk around, do some stretches, etc.
I wouldn't bother with a charger, just a cable should do, almost all modern planes have charging ports. But even on a long flight, you'll probably be fine, most phones and tablets don't burn through a ton of battery in airplane mode.
I wish I could sleep on planes, but I can't.
Sit next to a hot girl....
Drink a lot of water - the air in airplanes is very, very dry. Also keep in mind that alcohol has a disproportionate effect at these altitudes and in the dry air.
Only thing missing from the above suggestions is compression socks.
Oh, andi know it can be tempting cus free, but try not to drink too much alcohol. when it wears off, you'll regret it. I usually have a single beer with a meal to help nod off, and that's it.
Drink a lot of water.
do not drink a lot of alcohol.
dehydration amplifies jetlag
eastpark said:I'm flying Virgin Australia. I'm Canadian, so our dollar is pretty much at par with $AUS. I'm there to visit my son in Sydney. From his perspective, the cost of living in Sydney is very similar to the cost of living in Toronto. I can relate to that, as I lived in Toronto for 15 years.
I only flew virgin Australia domestically, they were.......eh. Hopefully yours will be better, the seats were tiny and hard. Qantas was eleventy billion times better
Still try Mjolner. It's a viking themed restaurant, it's not cheap but it's great
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