It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a little over 100 years since the first passenger airline service took off. What would we do without our planes to help us get to holiday destinations across the globe and for businessmen and women to make endless journeys to connect with other companies. It helps reunite families and old friends, to catch up after months or years away from each other. When it comes to flying, some journeys will be longer than others and therefore, it’s important to make sure that you’re prepared for a long-haul flight. Here are some tips to help you prepare!
Pick Out Comfortable Clothes
Don’t travel like you’re going to work or to dinner. Travelling by plane, especially long haul, requires comfortable clothing that isn’t restrictive and won’t cause you issues during your journey. Think about the time of year and whether you’ll need extra layers if it’s a cold season. Your outfit is something you’ll be wearing for ten hours, so avoid anything tight-fitting like jeans and opt for flight socks to help prevent DVT (deep vein thrombosis). Take off any jewellery and store this in your handbag or within your cabin luggage. For footwear, avoid heels or anything with an open toe. A pair of trainers work best, and if you prefer heeled shoes, a court shoe would be best. It’s worth remembering that your feet do swell in high altitude, so remove any tight shoes.
Keep Travel Documents Ready For Arrivals
When you’ve spent 7+ hours on a plane, getting through arrivals can feel like you’ve waited in queues for a further several hours and this is usually due to a combination of staff on the immigration desk and passengers taking their time. Ensure that all your travel documents are ready to be presented. In some cases, they may ask you why it is you’re here and where you are staying. So for example, you are here on holiday and that you are staying in perumahan murah di Indonesia. Preparing yourself with this information is good for all the party travelling, and it’s nothing to be taken aback by as the security staff are only doing their job thoroughly.
Reserve A Good Seat
When booking a flight, you may have the opportunity of pre-selecting your seat for a fee, and this is usually done 90 days before the flight is due to take off. For short-haul flights, this might not be so important if you don’t mind sitting together. However, for long-haul flights, regardless of sitting together in your party or not, you want to reserve a good seat. The best seats are going to be on an end, rather than cramped up by the window or stuck in between two people. You also want to take advantage of any free seats near the emergency exits, as these need to be a considerable bigger size in relation to every other aisle of seats. This means more legroom which equals a better quality of comfort for your flight. So if it’s available, it’s worth paying the fee in this case.
Pack The Relevant Items Needed For Sleeping
A long-haul flight might luckily be during the course of a day, and therefore if you’re flying out in the morning and arriving late in the evening, you may not feel the need to get some sleep. However, a lot of long-haul flights will be in the middle of the night or late at night, with you arriving in the morning. Therefore, it’s important to pack all the relevant items needed for sleeping. An eye mask and earplugs are great for blocking out your surroundings completely. If it helps to listen to certain noises, you can replace your earplugs with noise-cancelling headphones. A travel pillow is also great for keeping your neck in an upright and comfortable position.
Move Around Plane
Sitting down for several hours is something no one can do without getting up and moving about, even if it’s for 30 seconds. It can cause agony for your body, and that’s not how you want to start or end your agony. So if you’re able to, try getting up every hour or two at the maximum and take a walk up and down the plane. Stretch your legs where there’s room and roll out your body with some head, shoulder and arm rolls. Your body will thank you for it, and you’re not going to be the only one doing it, so don’t feel like you’re causing an aggravation by getting up so often. This also brings back the point of choosing a good seat. With more legroom, you might not need to do this as much, but when sitting in an aisle chair, you won’t be disrupting anyone if those in your aisle don’t want to move around.
Stay Hydrated
The most important part of being on a long-haul flight is hydration. With the plane’s air conditioning, the moisture in the cabin is not so nice on your skin and your overall health. Therefore, it’s good to keep hydrated so that your body is getting enough water to keep itself feeling good and more importantly, giving your skin plenty of moisture so that it doesn’t get dry. It can be easy to get dehydrated with the amount of tea, coffee and alcohol that you’re served, so always have a bottle of water to drink every hour or so.
Travelling on a long-haul flight is certainly an experience and one some like and some not so much. So make sure that you are fully prepared with the following tips. Wear comfortable clothing and be sensible in your choices. Reserve yourself the best seat prior to flying and ensure you have travel documents out and ready at arrivals. Pack the items you need for sleeping and move around the plane regularly. And finally, make sure you are drinking plenty of water to arrive at your destination feeling the same way as to when you boarded.
This was a collaborative post. All opinions are my own.
