Tips for Surviving a Long Flight

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In just over a month, we are off to Sydney, Australia (from Washington, D.C.). The question has crossed my mind more than once, “How are we going to survive the trip?” Long-haul flights can take a real toll on your body and mind. Here are our tips for surviving a long flight and my plan for getting through our 20+ hours in the air:

Before booking this trip, my one condition for my two sons was that they would have to follow my instructions on the flights to the letter (with no argument). That means that when I remind them to drink some water, stretch their legs, or get some sleep, that’s what they need to do. I know my teens, and they are not necessarily going to devote their mental bandwidth to properly managing their wellness on a flight (instead their brains are thinking “cool, I can play on my device for 15 straight hours.”).

Flying halfway across the globe is going to be exhausting no matter what you do, and there is no real way to avoid jet lag with a 14-hour time change. Nonetheless, here’s our plan to make the trip easier on our bodies. You can use these tips for a flight of any length:

Tips for Surviving a Long Flight

Start with the destination in mind

Mindset is important! We can either approach the flight with dread, or we can think, “OMG, we are going to Australia! This is the trip of a lifetime. I’m so excited!”  Which do you think will yield better results?

Build in a break

On the blog, we have advocated having deliberately long layovers.

Adding a long layover is one of my favorite tips for surviving a long flight. Following our own advice, on this trip we will leave Washington, D.C. in the early morning, landing in San Francisco at 9:40 a.m. (5h42m flying time). A transcontinental flight can be tiring in and of itself (even when you aren’t tacking on a second 15-hour flight). So, we are going to take the day to recover and travel into the city to stretch our legs with a day of sightseeing.

Snacks and showers

After we have cruised around Alcatraz, strolled the Embarcadero, and done whatever else tickles our fancy, we will head back to the airport (SFO). In preparation for our second, significantly longer flight, we are going to avail ourselves of the shower facilities at Freshen Up, put on a comfy flying outfit (something loose and lots of layers!), then relax in the lounge before boarding, thanks to our Priority Pass membership. We will leave San Francisco at 11:00 p.m., tired but refreshed and ready to sleep!

Compression socks

On separate long-haul flights to Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay, I have had some bothersome ankle swelling (damn you, middle age!). So, for this flight I bought some cute compression socks to help with blood circulation and prevent swelling. (I’ll take a pass on deep vein thrombosis, thank you very much.)

Sleeping discipline

Cue the self-discipline! While the boys will no doubt be tempted to stay up watching movies or playing on their phones, they will have to set aside the electronics and commit to trying to get a full night of sleep. We have taken small doses of melatonin, a natural sleep aid, in the past on flights to Europe, and it seems to work well for our family, so we will have some on hand. I am also a huge fan of eye masks for blocking the light and noise cancelling headphones (earplugs are a compact, budget alternative).

Face mask

The low humidity levels in airplane cabins dries out the skin significantly. Before lights-out, I am going to go all diva and slather on some Jet Lag Mask by Summer Fridays. It looks and feels like a thick moisturizer and will protect me from the desert-like air conditions in the cabin.

Food and water

We all know that we should drink plenty of water on flights, but how many of us really do? For shorter flights, the boys often seize the opportunity to order a soda (something they don’t generally get at home). Not this time though—water it will be. We will also have our regular arsenal of “just-in-case” snacks (typically unsalted cashews, fruit and veggies (fine to bring as long as they have all been eaten before we land), granola bars, etc.)

Airplane food is notoriously high in sodium (to add flavor, since our taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes). So, we will want some healthy, low-sodium options (I refer you back to swelling ankles).

Movement

I mentioned deep vein thrombosis (DVT) earlier. This is when a blood clot forms in a vein; if it breaks loose, it can cause a pulmonary embolism. Tips for preventing DVT include staying active and avoiding long periods of sitting motionless.  That’s pretty hard to do when you are crammed like a sardine into a fuselage hurtling its way through the sky for the better part of a day. Still, since we are in a row by ourselves, we can easily make a point of getting up every hour to walk in the aisle a bit, without disturbing other passengers. There are also many foot, ankle, and leg exercises one can do while seated. 

Entertainment

When I have a flight approaching, I save up episodes of my favorite podcasts (and make sure they are fully downloaded onto my phone) as an in-flight treat. I also enjoy reading magazines in the air, as they are easy to dispose of on arrival. Movies and video games are the boys’ primary in-flight entertaining, so they will have to be sure to keep their devices (and battery back-ups fully charged).

So that’s our general plan, but as the saying goes, “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” We’ll report back in August about the good, the bad, and the ugly and share anything we learn during our longest-ever flight.

Want to find out how it went? We tell you here:

How Painful Is It to Fly In Economy to Australia?

What have we forgotten? Do you have any tips for surviving a long flight? Please share them here!

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