Tips on surviving long flights?

[adamak]

I'm leaving for Hong Kong tomorrow. 20 hours flight, and I'm just very stressed over it. Flight is full, so no luck in getting better seats.

Any tips?

 

[debster812]

Ugh--The longest flight I have had was from Miami to Rio. I guess I would say, books, magazines, music to listen to, lots of water to drink. And, if you can get yourself sleeping on Hong Kong time, that would be a huge help for when you land.

Good Luck, and have a good trip!

 

[Micca]

That's a long flight. Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Have a variety of diversions: read a while, listen to some music, take a nap, get up and stretch, join the mile high club ...just checking to see if you were paying attention.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Do you have a portable DVD player or someone you can borrow one from?

Have a safe trip!

 

[JustHolly]

Take Xanax and sleep the whole way!

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

I used to work for a long-haul airline and gave presentations on this topic all the time.
Let's see how much I remember!
- get yourself a blow up neck pillow and eyeshades. They work great for long flights where you cannot lay down.
- Try to get yourself a window seat. You can lean against the window. Only downside is you have to crawl over two people to get to the restroom
- Most likely you are taking a night flight across the Pacific. If this is the case you'll probably be fed dinner shortly after takeoff. Try to eat something as it will be a long time before you get fed again. If you enjoy a drink, have one (only one!) now. After dinner, they will mostly likely put on a movie or two. Try to relax and sleep at this time. If you are comfortable with this idea, take a over the counter sleep aid. I found this helped me to fall asleep.
- Try to get up every once and awhile to walk around (if this is allowed) and stretch. If not do small exercises while in your seat. Move you feet up and down, bend over in your seat and touch your toes, small butt crunches, anything to get your blood circulating.
- Bring a large bottle of water on the plane. Drink lots of water. Try to stay away from soft drinks, alcohol and coffee. Keep hydrated. You'll feel much better upon arrival.
- if you cannot sleep, bring a good book to read.
- try not to bring a huge carryon, or try to leave the area under the seat in front of you open. This is good for stretching your legs.
- I always brought my portible CD player and my music. I found it relaxed me to have my own CD/tapes.
One other piece of advise. If you arrive in HK in the morning try not to go to sleep right away. It will be hard but you should try to not go to sleep until after dinner. Have a light meal and then an early bedtime. You'll wake up refreshed the next morning, and shouldn't suffer too much jet lag. If on the other hand you go to sleep, your body clock will be all messed up and it'll take a few days to recoup.

Have a great trip!!

 

[DMRick]

I always brought my portible CD player and my music

We just got back form Ireland, and Aer LIngus would not let us use CD's. They said the laser that runs it could mess up the plane. They also said no at first to Gameboys, but we showed them where it said safe for aviation (or something like that) on the back, and they said ok, but they really shouldn't.
I was amazed at the amount of kids playing in the aisles, having races in the aisles, etc, while parents seemed to not even noticing. Seat belt sign didn't seem to matter to them.

 

[onecoolmama]

Stay up the whole night before. I flew to the Philippines a few times and my brother just got back from China. Their times are almost our exact opposite...so you can sleep on the plane and you should be fairly rested for the time change.

 

[Pin Wizard]

Yuck! I'd be canceling that trip! As it is, I'll drive to Orlando to get a direct flight to where I want to go. West Palm and Ft. Lauderdale don't have direct flights. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

 

[arminnie]

I used to fly to Singapore and Australia - LONG flights. I recommend books on CD or books on tape - the CDs are easier to carry.

I now use a small audio player - Otis - that I got from Audible.com. I down load books. It's about the size of a pack of cards and holds about 20 hours of books w/o the memory chip which of course adds even more.

And one more thing - Ambien. It's a prescription sleeping pill. The good thing about Ambien is that you can wake up if you need to (like to go to the bathroom or if the plane lands). I've never been groggy the next day with Ambien. I usually take it so that I will have had about 8 hours sleep by landing time.

Good luck.