Travelling Well on a Long-Haul Flight

Travelling Well on a Long-Haul Flight: Essential Tips for Economy Flyers

Australians know a thing or two about long flights. My most important travel tips for flying on a long-haul flight in economy are as follows:

What to do the week before your long-haul flight

Get a good night’s rest every day

For a full week if you can. I did this once for a trip I to California that was only going to last 48 hours. I was there for my best friend’s wedding. And I knew I needed to be in good shape straight off the plane so I could carry out my maid of honor duties. I took the prep for this trip seriously. I’ll be honest and admit that I hardly did get much sleep when I actually landed, but I survived it because I had started from a solid set point at the beginning.

Hydrate everyday

Get your water in to bank up those health habits. It’s really inconvenient to chug water when you’re on your flight. By all means drink when you’re thirsty but I have found for myself that making sure I’m very hydrated in the week leading to my travel does the job.

Schedule a day off before you go

So you’re not running around everywhere. You’ll inevitably need to do laundry, make sure the dishwasher is empty, water the plants, get everything else in order before you go so you don’t come back to a mess. The more you have to tend to, the more likely you are to forget something important. Also, travel in itself can be very stressful and you don’t want that to be your baseline before you leave.

What to do two days before leaving

Get your snacks from the grocery store

It costs so much less than at the airport, might as well buy some chips, candy, and other nibbles from the grocery store. Changes are you’ll also be eating at the airport but at least this save you a little. Protein and fresh fruit tend to be the hardest to find at airports so I usually pack those in the form of bars and cut up veggies or fruit. But also I have a particular habit of making sure I cover all of the possible flavor and texture profiles if I’m craving something: chocolate, fruit candy, chips, crackers.

Take an immunity supporting supplement of your choice

I have always found airborne to be a good choice for me. Particularly the dissolving fizzy tablets. Again, so that you’re in as strong a constitution as possible before you submit yourself to the physical and mental stress of travel.

Do not make a bigger mess for yourself and do the last bit of cleaning

If you can help it, don’t cook at home, and finish your last load of laundry. I say this advice to myself as it’s wishful thinking. In an ideal world this would be when I finish but I tend to leave this at the last minute. If you will be gone only a couple of days it doesn’t matter so much, but leaving for a month and the consequences of leaving dirty clothes or dishes around can be dire.

What to do the Day Before Travel

Pack your carry-on

I put away my computer, chargers, phone, essential medications and even the things I use daily in my carry on and just take it out as I need it. Always replacing it back in the bag when I’ve finished using it. I do not want to be scrambling to find the things I need on the day. Even if the flight is at night.

Rest, that is all

Lay down, sleep in, order food or pick up something fresh from the store that’s already premade. Try to keep your stress down.

What to do at the Airport

Put on compression socks

I usually do this just before we get onto the plane as opposed to wearing them at the airport. Since you normally have to be at the airport 3+ hours before your flight I want to only have them on as short a time as possible. They make a difference. I used to always get swollen legs for sometimes more than a day after getting off of a flight but now I don’t have the issue at all once I get to my destination.

Refill your water bottle if you have one

It takes at least an hour after takeoff for any of the food services to start so this will help you from being thirsty on a crowded plane.

Figure out what you want to store under the seat

I have to carry on things like laptops and occasionally some bulkier things that I know I won’t use on the flight. I stow those in the overhead compartments and don’t touch them the entire flight. I have the in-flight stuff that I need packed into my separate Longchamp backpack which I can take out of my main carryon. Usually also a nylon bag of snacks and my water.

Pen and passports (to fill out the travel declarations), face masks, wipes, hand sanitizer lozenges, tissue, lotion, eyedrops. These are among some of the things I try to make easily accessible by storing it under my seat.

What to do on the Plane

Board as early as you can

This is a personal preference. I always like to make sure that my carry on is just above where I’m sitting. And I like to sit in my seat and relax, settle in while people are still fussing around. I can kind of drown out everything around me. I usually use this time when people are shuffling about to sit quietly, almost in a meditative state. I take a mini nap after the people next to me have found their seat

Set your watch to your destination time

In my book, as soon as I get onto the plane, I’m already in the time zone of my destination and I take my sleeping and rest cues from there. For example. If I’m on a 1130pm flight from Brisbane headed to Los Angeles. It means we’ve left at about 430pm Los Angeles time. I will fight to stay awake for another 3.5 hours so I can then unofficially ‘sleep’ at 8pm at the time of my destination. It can be hard to sleep on a plane in an economy seat but even if I don’t fully slumber, I make sure to close my eyes and rest my mind and body.

Create a time blocked schedule of your flight

If my flight is 12 hours long, I create an hour-by-hour itinerary of what I’m going to do on the plane. On my phone I’ll number 1-12 in the notes app and make a list of things I can do for an hour. I include rest in there. About 6 hours.

It might look like this

1 make playlist and listen to music

2 clean out photo gallery from phone

3 dinner and a movie

4 rest

5 rest

6 rest

7 rest

8 rest

9 clean out screenshots from phone

10 breakfast and a tv show

11 clean out photo gallery from phone

12 plan my souvenirs, things I want to eat

Don’t rely on watching movies to get you through the entire flight

There’s a reason the lights go low on these types of flights. It’s trying to acclimatize you to the time at your destination. So when the lights go down, try to get some rest. I’ve found the screens have a detrimental effect on my ability to rest. Even if I listen to music from the media player I turn the screen off.

Cleaning out your phone is a great time passer

You’ll see in my time blocked list that I’ve put a few entries there where I clean out my phone. The time goes by and you feel a bit lighter afterward so that you’ve freed up space to take new photos on your holiday. On the return trip home, you can cull all of the photos and keep the most important ones.

Long-haul flights can be made less grueling, especially if you prepare well in advance. With these tips, hopefully you’ll arrive at your destination feeling more rested and ready to enjoy your trip. Safe travels!