How to Be Comfortable on a Long Airplane Trip

Unless you're a first-timer or a long-flight junkie, chances are you are not going to like those boring overseas flights.
Apart from waiting long hours there are also other things that may annoy you - things like changes in pressure, THAT kid crying 2 rows behind you, guy next to you waking you up to go to the toilet, silly flight attendants being too friendly, pretty much pointless passenger announcements and the ever-present turbolence (you will encounter it at least once in your flight. If not, consider yourself extremely lucky).

So what to do to minimize the annoyance?
Here's how..



Things to take with you

First you should make a list of things to take on an airplane. Here's a pretty good list, just to give you an idea:

- Travel pillow
- Sleeping mask
- Books to read/Games to play/Movies to watch
- Wear long sleeves and long pants (it gets cold)
- Melatonin* (reset your body clock while you're on the plane)
- Comfortable shoes (you want to easily take them off)
- Mints (bad breath)

*You shouldn't worry about this if you're a teenager or in your 20s, 30s. You're young enough to deal with time zones with ease.

Picking your seat

Try to get an aisle seat, or even better, travel with family/friends and take up an entire row. That way you won't have to deal with strangers and being overly polite to them. For many it's also easier to have someone else ask YOU to move, than having to do this yourself.

Aisle seats also give you more room for your legs, you can stretch them out in the corridor. Although beware, I had been stepped on numerous times because of that.

Sleeping

Try to sleep as soon as night hits the zone the plane is in. It'll be hard but trust me, it pays loads. Your body clock tends to self-adjust as you fly.

Airplane Food

Avoid eating chicken served on the plane, most of the time it gives you diarrhea. Same goes for some meats, if they taste raw or really sour avoid them like the plague. In fact, try to avoid all plane food you can't tolerate after the first bite. Chances are you'll feel ill if you do eat it.

Drink plenty of water. The air on board the plane is very dry. It's easy to become dehydrated.

Restrooms

Use the restrooms before entering the plane, or when not much people have used them, it makes them more tolerable. A lot.
I've learned to use toilets before flights, so I never have to get up during the flight and go to the toilet.

Other

Bring a pen, you'll thank me later. Seriously.

Wear warm clothes, it gets cold in the plane and the heating system can help until a certain point, but then it's cold everywhere.

Earplugs may come handy as well.

Don't look at the time or an in-flight map too often during your flight. It will only make everything longer.

Long-flight airplanes will most likely be equipped with pillows, plankets, headphone set, and a screen built into the seat in front of you. Make sure the screen actually works - if not, ask to for another seat. Airlines usually have a huge collection of movies and songs, but kudos to you if you manage to get to the end of the movie without being interrupted 10+times by PA or something else.


And for christ's sake put all the stuff you'll need in one bag and the other in the other. You'll be moving around and shuffling with the bags a lot less, and helps you too a lot.