Making The Most Out Of Long Haul Flights

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Growing up, I cannot say that I took many flights. In fact, up until college, I don’t believe I had ever experienced an individual flight longer than three hours. That being said, since beginning the process of moving to Munich, I have taken five, 9 or 10 hour, international long haul flights in the last four months, with my most recent one completed just this morning. While I have not embarked on long haul flights to Africa or Asia, I wanted to share a few of the tips, resources and treasures that I have gained from these recent experiences to perhaps help you in preparing for a long distance flight as well. Whether boarding First Class or Main cabin, with Delta or American Airlines, these factors have been crucial for enjoying the flight, arriving with everything in hand and keeping jetlag at bay. 

Water

As I mentioned in our Denver in December article regarding the Mile High City and hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, keeping hydrated is crucial for avoiding headaches and better adaptation for your body to the prolonged elevation exposure. I have found drinking a substantial amount of water at least the day before and day of the flight, really helps the body to more fully acclimate. This increased hydration is helpful on the way over to your destination, but to me, it is even more helpful upon returning to the US when addressing jetlag. Likewise, since the airplanes tend to blast the air throughout the cabin, the air can be quite drying, so the extra hydration is super beneficial. 

Chapstick

Because of the blasting air mentioned above, be sure to bring Chapstick or some kind of lip balm! This actually took me by surprise and by the end of my first long flight in January I felt that my lips were as dry as a bone. In many first class care packages, lip balm is included, but regardless of where you are seated, I highly recommend adding this item into your carry on luggage. 

Sleeping 

As most flights to Europe (and many long flights in general) fly overnight to arrive in the morning, sleeping is encouraged on the plane. To aid this, the lights dim blue overnight and slowly warm to yellow in the morning to encourage your own natural circadian rhythms. Beyond this however, both Charlie and I have found that soft ear plugs are often our go to for getting a good night sleep. Most of the plane quiets down throughout the night and the blowing air tends to sound like a sound machine, masking noise throughout the aircraft, but having additional ear plugs helps to keep out rustling of flight attendants and bathroom visitors. 

Baggage

What comes to mind when you think of dealing with baggage on long flights? For many people, horror stories of lost bags, bag repacking and bag fees fill their minds. While the requirements are slightly different for each airline, in general, I have found that for Domestic flights, your first bag up to 50 lbs. (although they will usually stretch to 55 lbs.) can fly free. For International flights, your first TWO bags up to 50 lbs. (same 55 lb. stretch) can fly free. The max weight for international bags is 70 lbs. (100 lbs. for Domestic) at which point you would have to do some unpacking if you are over, but if less than 70 and greater than ~50, you will pay a $100 fee. I recommend checking the requirements of your specific airline before traveling, but once you know the restrictions, use a normal scale or luggage scale to verify the weights BEFORE getting to the airport. I had to repack my bags 5 or 6 times to ensure I got them in the appropriate weight requirements, so a luggage scale is worth the investment. 

Once your bags have arrived and are being checked in, be sure that the final destination on the bag tags matches your final destination on your trip itinerary. In one of my flights back to the US, a glitch in the system led to a bit of baggage mayhem as my bags had been rerouted to Atlanta as my final destination instead of Atlanta with a layover. If I had realized the difference on my bag tags from my flight itinerary, I could have caught this glitch much sooner and prevented less running around the airport. All that to say, just be sure that your bag tags match your itinerary and then use the tracking information in the airline’s app to watch as your bags are loaded and unloaded from each leg of your journey. If for some reason the bags do go missing, knowing at which stage they were left is extremely helpful in fixing the problem. 

Jetlag

Finally, last but not least, prepare for jet lag. As I mentioned before, I can’t speak to jet lag beyond traveling to Europe. For Europe however, since you will arrive in Europe in the morning, try to not sleep for any lengthy amount of time until the night of arrival. A short 30 minute nap can help you to finish the day strong, but I recommend avoiding a nap of several hours. This will help your body adjust to the 5/6/7 hours ahead time difference, so that by the next day, you are adjusted to the new time zone and feel well rested. On the way back to the States, many flights arrive closer to evening anyway, so I would recommend sleeping that night of arrival as usual. 

Beyond that, just drink, drink, drink lots of water. Monitoring when you sleep and how you are hydrated are the biggest key factors I have found for keeping jet lag at bay. 

Final Thoughts

While this list is not comprehensive for every factor to consider when taking a long haul flight, it does contain some of the information that I personally have found the most helpful. As we continue to take flights back and forth in the next few years, I will keep this list updated, but in the meantime, do you have any favorite helpful hints for long flights? I would love to know your thoughts and comments in the section below!

Happy flying!

Chloe