Ready for your first long-haul flight?
Can you handle a long-haul flight?
We think you’re ready
Recently, I took one of the longest flights in the world. For our honeymoon, my husband and I went to Hong Kong and cruised Southeast Asia, more on why we cruise here. Our flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong was over 14 hours and our flight back from Singapore to San Francisco was 15 hours. Surprisingly, neither was too exhausting. Goal is to make the time pass and to do you best to feel well rested at the end. Here’s what we did right and here’s what we did wrong.
Seat Choice:
We were lucky on the flight to Hong Kong since we were flying on UA 2 on a Boeing 777-300. We ended up with a two-person seat behind a three-person seat in economy. We didn’t have to pay any extra for those seats. These seats allowed us to get up and down as much as we wanted and to spread out. If money’s no object I’d go for business/first class if possible. But we aren’t the kind of people willing to drop 5k each for a long haul flight. Another great tip is to look into different airlines heading to Asia. Some airlines like Singapore airlines or Emirates make a long haul flight a luxurious experience.
Entertainment:
This is honestly one of the most important ones. The trick is finding something that you know would entertain you for 15 hours. We definitely watched some movies, brought an iPad(for reading and games) and a laptop to do some work. But the best thing we always travel with is surprisingly a Nintendo Switch. My husband and I enjoy the multi-player games just as much as an RPG. The two we play the most are trivial pursuit and MarioKart are our current go-to’s. It never hurts to find something you can keep you entertained.
Staying Fresh:
One of the hardest thins when traveling for 18 hours is staying fresh and well rested. I always make sure to travel with a couple of things that make me comfortable. First, I love a good face wipe but only when travelling (I personally use Sephora’s Rose Cleansing Wipes). Nothing is better than feeling like you have a clean face after the air has been blowing on you for hours. Second, I always pack my deodorant, tooth brush and hair brush in my carry-on. I like to be able to get to them at any point. Lastly, a change of clothes is super important. You never know if the turbulence is going to get you or if you are going to spill something all over yourself before you arrive. A change of clothes certainly helps to alleviate that stress in making you feel fresh. But most importantly is taking a shower as the last thing you do before leaving for your trip. You never know when a two hour layover is going to turn into an overnight.
Sleep Schedule:
There are two different ways to approach the time change. First, is to try to stay on your normal schedule and adjust once you are there. The second school of thought is to try to beat it by lining up so your day is either beginning or ending when you arrive, either try to sleep most of the way there for an early morning arival…. Or stay awake the entire trip for an evening arrival and head to sleep when you arrive. We tried the latter. When we left San Francisco it was 11 in the morning, we arrived next day at 8 pm at night in Hong Kong. For us we didn’t really sleep for 14 hours. We did take a brief nap and I think that helped a little. On our way back from Singapore, we were able to use our Priority Pass (through Amex Platinum) to go to a minute suite to take a quick nap before continuing on home to Seattle. But in Hong Kong we thought we had beat the jet lag by going to sleep at a normal hour, joke was one us. I pretty much would wake up in the middle of the night starving, bringing me to a big one. SNACKS!
Snacks:
So I’m going to preface this with the fact that I had gotten into a pretty regular eating schedule and didn’t know that I had done that. Our eating schedule was flipped around by flying for 18 hours and eating the wrong amount of calories There was multiple times where I was way too hungry during the flight. Typically, we will pick up some fruit and nabs from a lounge for the flight. I was Twice my husband had to go ask for snacks.
Do you think you are ready?
My answer is yes. The only way to find out if you like or can even tolerate something is to try it. A long haul flight is more mental than physical, get up and walk around. Make sure you have lots of snacks and that you’ve put yourself in the happiest, cleanest and comfiest state possible. Good luck on your long haul flight!
Do you have some cool tips and tricks for long haul flights? Leave them in the comments!