In this guide you will find the following to help you have the best long haul flight experience possible:
✈️ Long Haul Flight Schedule
🧳 Long Haul Flight Packing
📝 Long Haul Flight Quick Tips
💻 Travel Planning Tools
(Some of the below links are affiliate links and/or I am providing my custom discount codes)
Long-Haul Flight Schedule
I get it, long-haul flights can feel SO intimidating, but I’ve spent the last 7 years perfecting my long haul flight routine to arrive with as little jet lag as possible, and tested it all out so you can arrive refreshed!
✈️ board the plane
💊 take your first no-jet-lag pill
🍿 immediately pick out a movie to watch with your AirFly
🍽️ halfway through movie – dinner is served
💤 take an Aklaseltzer PM before you eat (talk to your DR first)
🥂 skip the free alcohol and get plane Champagne (ginger ale)
🥱 by the time you finish eating & finish your movie you’ll be tired
💊 take another no-jet-lag pill
😴 sleep as much as you can (it’s okay to sleep & skip no-jet-lag pill)
📚 repeat or read, work, nap etc! (I like to play plane TV games haha)
^for 6-8 hour flights this is usually enough! For a 10hr+ flight I repeat this whole process again
Long-Haul Flight Packing
Most of what’s in my carry on book bag is specific items to make long-haul flights as comfortable as possible! Here’s what I’d pack:
CLICK HERE for my full packing lists
🌈 color copy print of passport
📸 pic of Passport on your phone (always helpful to have!)
📱 AirTags for your bags
📚 books/kindle etc
🛌 travel neck pillow (my sis loves the Trtl, I tend to use a jacket haha)
👀 Travel eye mask (I loveee these ones!)
💊. No-jet-lag pills (I take these for every long trip on the flight!)
✈️ an AirFly to use bluetooth headphones
🎧 Noise Canceling Earbuds – my go-tos that don’t hurt my ears
🔐 Bag lock for your bookbag/suitcase
🧳 Carry On Suitcase – this is my go-to carry on
🎒 Book bag – this is my go-to plane book bag
👜 Tote or collapsible day trip bag
💼. Duffle – this is my go-to duffle/personal item
🧳 Packing Cubes – helps save so much space! these are the ones I use
💤 I like Aklaseltzer PM on flights to sleep, melatonin works too
Long-Haul Flight Quick Tips
- Wear comfy loose fitting clothes
- Drink lotsss of water, a lot of jet-lag symptoms are actually dehydration and effects from being in pressurized air for extended periods of time
- Avoid the free alcohol – it’s fine! it can just contribute to dehydration/jet-lag, but you do you!
- Get up to walk around as often as possible if you aren’t sleeping
- it’s okay to skip no-jet-lag pills when sleeping! (talk to your doc before taking any meds/homeopathic items)
- order the vegetarian dish, it’s almost always better AND plane meat sketched me out long before I was a vegetarian
- BONUS points if you pre-order the Asian-Vegetarian meal (this is an option for lots of airlines, and it’s always the BEST)
Travel Planning Tools
Google Flights
Google Flights for searching general flight prices and trends
DailyDrop
DailyDrop for tracking big flight deals, can get alerts for destinations just be willing to hop on them quickly! There’s a free and paid premium subscription (i.e. you can still use it for free, but get access to a lot more deals with the premium!).
SkyScanner
Great tool for finding flight deals, and I’d also recommend using the “Everywhere” feature (similarly to Google Flights) to find cheap flight deals!
aeroLOPA
Can look at seat maps for specific flights so you don’t end up like me and book a window seat with no window.
FlightAware
I look up the typical flight path to decide which side of the plane to sit on, taking into account sunrise & sunset times, and views.
Flighty
Flighty is an awesome app for tracking your flights, especially if you travel regularly on multiple airlines. It also will notify you of delays, sometimes before the airlines even does! You can also connect on Flighty with other people you want to be able to track your flights (family, friends, etc)
I create a saved folder on IG for the destination and search IG for posts on that destination, saving anything that is of interest to me!
Blogs
If I don’t know of any bloggers who have been, I just Google things like “best things to do…”, “what to do in…” and look for blog articles (as opposed to TripAdvisor pages) – bloggers have the best recs!
Notion
Notion is a great note app & website. I use it to plan all my trips, build day-to-day itineraries, and keep all my research in one place. But you can use it for basically anything! I also use it as a place to save all my cooking recipes.
Google Maps
Use Google Maps to save everything you find from your research: from what to do, where to eat, best photo opps, hikes, hotels, where the train station is etc. It’ll make your life so much easier when planning logistics – AND – when you’re actually on the trip you can always pull up the map no matter where you are and maybe there’s a coffee shop nearby you forgot you’d saved! Download the map for offline too just in case you’re having trouble with your service/connection.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone isn’t just for learning to be fluent (although I’m using it to hopefully become fluent in Spanish!). Learning even just a little of a local language can be super helpful. Rosetta Stone has a whole travel section of useful travel phrases as well. I have a custom discount link for 50% a lifetime subscription!! (I don’t make anything off this like just FYI just an awesome discount from when I worked with them in the past!)
TravelSpend
TravelSpend has been my go-to expense tracking app for nearly 5 years. It’s what I used every single day that we travel full time for 14 months and the only way I knew we were staying on budget! You can spread expenses out over days, split with friends, it auto converts to the local currency, and all around is my #1 recommended travel expense app. My affiliate link gets you 50% off an annual membership! The code is AMANDA or you can use this link, you just need to have the app downloaded first.
Photos App
I use the native Photos app in my phone with a folder named “Documents” where I keep pics and screenshots of important travel info. Everything from my passport, to license, flight info, train tickets, tour tickets, hotel booking reference info, etc.
Airalo
Airalo has been my go-to eSIM app for a few years now, I used it in 6 countries last year alone! It’s easy to use, easy to install. Use code BROWN3 to get $3 off your first Airalo eSIM! (Again, I make nothing from this, just a discount code they gave me when I worked with them last year!)
Google Translate
You can use any translate app, I just prefer the Google one! It’s best to have the language downloaded in case you end up in situation with no service somewhere you can’t speak the language.
GetYourGuide
GetYourGuide is a great platform to find and book tours in nearly any destination! Everything from walking tours to multiday trips.
Hope this was helpful!! Happy travels friend!