How to ace a long haul flight

My journey to Melbourne to start my year abroad was the longest flight that I had ever taken, by three fold. With a total journey time of over 24 hours and visiting 4 airports, it was far longer than I had ever travelled before (my trip to India being the next closest, at a mere 8 hour flight time). Coupled with the fact that I was flying solo, there was a lot that I learnt in the sky that I'd like to share with you all that made my flight more comfortable.

Dress Accordingly

I'm going to start off with the obvious one, but it really does make a difference. Make sure that you wear some comfy clothes for the flight that you don't mind spending a long time in. Avoid jeans or trousers, and opt for joggers or cargo pants. My go to is usually cargo pants with a sweatshirt. I'd also say bring a spare change clothes (even if that's only another pair of socks or a t-shirt), that you can change into mid-flight or during a layover to keep you refreshed.

Stay Hygienic

Time seems to blur and become distorted when you're 40,000 feet in the air, staying on top of your hygiene is something that you can control. Make a mini hygiene kit that you can take in your carry-on (remember to check the size of the liquids!); a toothbrush, toothpaste, some moisturising cream and a small towel do the job fine.

I used actions such as brushing my teeth to help me keep to some sort of routine during my journey. My watch was set to UK time, so when I would have typically been waking up or getting ready for bed, I would go and brush my teeth on the plane. This really helped me keep fresh and structure the 25 hours of flying.

Choose Your Shoes

Linked to the clothing, make sure you're wearing comfortable footwear for your journey. I managed to fit some slides in my hand luggage, so once I got onto the plane I changed into those. It's the little things that really do help.

Keep Yourself Entertained

Unless you just adore in-flight entertainment, for long haul flights I'd highly recommend bringing something to keep you occupied - whether that be a book, your iPad or laptop. Pre-download your shows just in case the movies on the plane are meh, and try to plan out what you want to do on the flight. For me that looked something like: watch a film, eat, sleep, read, sleep etc etc, you get the idea.

Get a good sleep

There's lots of distractions around you on a plane if you're trying to get some shut-eye, so to try and minimise that I'd recommend getting an eye mask, neck pillow,  and ear plugs/headphones. The eye mask especially made a huge difference to the quality of the sleep that I got, as it removed all the light coming off the screens.

Flying solo? - make some friends

Becoming acquainted with your fellow passengers won't do any harm. This doesn't mean you need to become their bestie, but as a solo traveller it always helps if you know someone. Start up a conversation with your neighbour, and hopefully you'll get on with them during the flight! You'll be surprised as to how much you can learn from talking to others - I picked up some career advice, travel tips and some company all the way to Melbourne. Tazio & Eden, if you're reading this you guys were awesome company :)

The points I mention above aren't rocket science, but they're things that you may not always think about before flying. If you have any other travelling tips it would be great to hear about them in the comment section below. Other than that, happy travels!

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