Must Have LONG FLIGHT ESSENTIALS | What to Pack for a Long Flight (2023)

Let's look at what to pack for a long-haul flight to make your trip as smooth and comfortable as possible. After traveling the world for 7 years, I've spent my fair share of time up in the clouds. I had to learn what to carry on a long-haul flight the hard way, which unfortunately led to some sucky flight experiences. To help you avoid that, here's my go-to list of long-haul flight essentials for a happy trip. We'll start with what I consider is one of the most important items, and that is the I recommend a large fanny pack that has enough space to pack a bunch of stuff inside of it, but not so humongous that it's super obvious when you're walking through the check-in counter. It's also smart to get low-key colors instead of super bright neon colors that stick out. I've never had any airline worker have a problem with my fanny pack, but it's always better to be safe than sorry. I'll link to this exact fanny pack below in case you're interested, as well as everything else that I mention in this video. So let's start with the obvious. The first item in your fanny pack is gonna be your phone that you have at easy access at all times. It's a good idea to download games and videos and music that you can listen to offline while you're on your flight, but we'll get into more entertainment stuff just in a second. I also like to have an eSIM like AeroLoad ready to rock on my phone for when I arrive in my destination. This allows you to have data connection and internet as soon as you land. It's nice because you don't have to pay expensive roaming fees or hunt down a physical SIM card when you're all tired and groggy when you arrive at your destination. For a discount, use my referral link down in the description with the code that I put on the screen. Next up in the fanny pack is the handy dandy earbuds, and I actually prefer these over the big over-the-head headphones just because I find it more comfortable to sleep and have a pillow behind your neck and everything. The one risk with these earbuds here is that they fall out when you're on the plane, and that would really suck. But recently, someone commented with a genius idea on one of my other YouTube videos, and they basically said if you want to sleep with the small earbuds in and you don't want to fall out, you can just use a headband and put it over your ears, and there you go. I actually don't have my own headband, this is my wife's, but you get the idea. Speaking of which, a lot of these awesome ideas actually came from you guys in the comment section of other videos, and so if you see anything that I'm missing here, make sure to comment below so other people can read it. Next up is just a handy dandy passport holder, and the trick here is to find one that's small enough to fit in your fanny pack so you have easy access to everything, but big enough to be able to fit your travel docs and IDs and everything, vaccination cards and everything like that so it's easy access for you when you're traveling. It's also not a bad idea to have wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and tissues ready in your fanny pack in case you need them on your flight. And depending on which airlines you're flying with and which countries you're going to, it's not a bad idea just to throw a mask in there just in case, you never know. Long haul flights can also get pretty dry in the air, and so it's not a bad idea to bring some eye drops if you're prone to dry eyes, and some chapstick for your lips. You also don't want to be that person who doesn't have a pen and has to ask your neighbor for a pen to fill out the documents when you're arriving to a new country, so always good to have a pen as well. This next one is super important, and that is a small power bank that fits in your fanny pack. I personally like this one. It's not the biggest power bank in the world, but the cool thing is it has this and so you can use it as a normal wall adapter, and so you don't really ever need to remember to recharge it because if you're using it to plug into the wall all the time anyways, it'll always be charged. These are important because on the airplane there's normally a little USB where you can charge things, but one, they normally charge really slow, and two, they might be broken, and that's the last thing you want is to have dead everything while you're traveling for 10 or 15 or more hours. Along with the power bank, I like this specific cable because it means you don't have to pack tons of different cables. This one's made by Anker, and it has like different adapters, I don't know if you can see this, on top, and you just switch them in, and so this one has USB-C, micro USB, and the iPhone adapter all in one, and so you only need one cable. Next up is to pack a small snack in your fanny pack because you don't want to depend on the food that they give you on the airplane because one, you might not like it, two, you don't know when they're going to serve it, and so it's always good just to have an extra backup. I normally just throw in a protein bar or a granola bar or something, but someone in a recent video like freaked out on me and said that if someone had a peanut allergy I could hurt them or something, and I never even realized this. I don't know if that's a thing or not. If you do happen to know if packing snacks with peanut products in them is dangerous for other passengers, please comment below because I have no clue if that's a real thing Next up, I always like to pack some gum, and obviously I would pack a smaller gum, not this big one, but I don't have one right now. Gum serves a bunch of different purposes. It can keep you awake when you need to stay awake to avoid jet lag, it also helps balance out your ears if you're chewing, and it just helps you feel and keep fresh. One thing to note though is some other passengers are really sensitive to the sound of chewing noises and so make sure that you're chewing softly and not bothering other passengers smacking your lips. Then of course you have your good old eye mask, and if you don't have noise cancelling headphones, just some small earplugs to block out the noise to get some rest when you should be resting. I've always used these foam ear thingies in the past, but recently I discovered these like they're kind of like wax or silicone putty ones, and for me they're way more comfortable and they fit in your ear better, and so check those out if you don't like the foam earbuds. They're really cool. Next is any medicines that you may need on the flight. You might want Dramamine or something if you're prone to motion sickness or you want to feel a little bit drowsy, or some Ibuprofen or anything else that you need on you during your flight. Surprisingly all the stuff I just showed you fits into this fanny pack, but if it's super jammed full it can get a little bit uncomfortable to get things out, and that's why it's also helpful to bring a personal item size backpack with you that you can keep underneath the seat. The problem is the space that you have under the seat is different with different airlines and airplanes, and they don't tell you often the exact dimensions that you need, but in most cases you'll be safe if your backpack or personal item is 16 by 12 by 6 inches or less. This is the backpack that I use, and it's a little bit bigger than normal right now because it has some extra stuff that I want to show you, but when it's not full this one usually always fits under the seat. I recommend using a flexible backpack and not jamming it all the way full. That way if the dimensions under the seat is a little bit smaller than expected you'll still be able to jam it under there. So let's take a look and see what I pack inside my personal item backpack. First of all you can pack some of the stuff in the fanny pack list in here if your fanny pack is too full. I also like to always have these little locks with me, that way if I have valuables in here I can lock the zippers if I need to go to the bathroom or something. If you have a carry-on that you pack in the overhead bins you can also use these to lock. I have different styles here because some work better with some backpacks than others, but you can never have too many of these, they're easy to lose. Next up I always pack this large microfiber travel towel with me because it doubles as a blanket on the plane because I don't really trust that they wash the blankets very well. And so I just use this as my blanket, and I also on to the plane I usually wear a hoodie with me just in case it's cold, and that can also double as a pillow if you need to, and I like pulling up the hood sometimes just because it gives you a little sense of privacy. As I mentioned before, if you like the overhead headphones better than the earbuds, these will probably have to go in your backpack because it's probably not going to fit in your fanny pack, and so you can put those there as well. I also pack my entertainment items in here as well, but we'll get to those at the end. It's smart to pack a water bottle, you probably have to empty it before you go through security, but then after you go through you can find a bathroom or something and fill it back up again. This is the water bottle I use, but you can use a plastic water bottle if you want, or they also have the collapsible foldable ones if you want to travel super light, but this is just the one that I use. You'll also want to keep any prescription medicines that you need in this bag as well. If you put these in your check bag, then your check bag might get lost and then you're in trouble, so you always want to carry those with you. If you have glasses, pack your glasses. I, fortunately, no longer have to use glasses because I just did LASIK surgery here in Columbia, video on that soon, but don't forget the glasses. But just like the prescription pills, you don't want to pack your glasses in your check bag in case it gets lost. On the outside of your bag, you can strap your neck pillow so it doesn't take up as much space. I personally just started using a kind of weird neck pillow called the turtle neck pillow, and I really like to it a lot. Another creative solution I heard from you guys was that you can buy some neck braces on Amazon, like for neck injuries, but you can buy like covers for them so they don't look weird, and those are a lot cheaper than these neck pillows. Next up, you'll want some items to stay fresh on your flight. Toothbrush, toothpaste, you can probably get a smaller one than this. Some floss. If you're a girl, you can bring girl stuff like a hairbrush, hair tie, makeup remover, or any other essential makeups that you need with you. Some countries are sticklers about packing your liquids in plastic bags, so make sure you have a strong Ziploc plastic bag to bring with you. You don't need to buy anything fancy, you can just get normal Ziploc bags if you want, but you can bring an extra just to be sure. And if you're traveling carry-on only without a checked bag, you'll have to travel with smaller liquids, and for those, I found these cool little containers that are under the liquid limit to pack in your carry-ons, and so these are refillable, and they're really nice, and so I'll link to those below as well. When you're on a super long flight, you might be more comfortable if you take off your shoes, but if you're like my wife, she gets really cold feet, and so you can pack some nice warm socks with you to keep your feet warm. And this next one is super important, and that is a change of clothes and underwear in case you spill something on yourself on the flight, or in case you shart. If you're going on a short vacation, and you're traveling carry-on only, you also might want to throw in one of those little packable tote bags that are super cheap, like the ones you use at the supermarket, and that way if you end up buying souvenirs or something and you want to travel back with them, you'll have an extra space to pack them. I don't normally pack these because a lot of times we just travel indefinitely, and so we don't have space to buy souvenirs, but it might work for you. You're also going to want to put anything else in here that is valuable, or that you don't want to lose, that you don't want to pack in your checked luggage. Make sure that it's with you on the plane. If you also have a carry-on included in your ticket that's going to go up in the overhead bins, you can pack some of this stuff in the carry-on, like the extra clothes that you probably won't need. Just know that it's not going to be within arm's reach. Before we get into the unique entertainment options, I just want to let you know that I realize that this is a lot to remember, and so if you need help remember it, I made a quick and easy checklist that you can download for free in the description. So we'll start with the obvious and then move on to the more creative. The obvious is a Kindle with the books that you want downloaded. This is nice because it actually fits in my fanny pack, and so I don't even have to pack it in the backpack. I have it right on me at all times. If you tend to get anxious on flights, or you just want a break from constant screen time, you could also pack an adult coloring book with you and color on the plane. That's usually good to help calm the nerves. Or if you like to draw, you can just pack some paper or draw on an iPad or something. For drawing on the iPad, I really like an app called Procreate, which is really cool. Also, if you have an iPad, you can download your own movies here. Another tip from one of our YouTube subscribers that likes to travel old school says that he likes to bring travel puzzles and travel games and things that he can do physically because he doesn't like watching the screen the whole trip. And another thing that I really like to do on flights is to bring my travel journal along. Before leaving for your trip, you can research a list of different journal prompts online, and then on the flight, you can reflect and write about things on the journey to your destination. One thing that I like to think and write about are my intentions on what I want to get out of the trip. Then on the way home from your destination, you can reflect on the experiences you had and the memories you made. Lastly, if you're a workaholic like me, you can bring your laptop, but just make sure to create a list of offline work that you can do while you're on the flight. For me, that usually means writing out five outlines for different videos I can make. Packing is only the first step to a hassle-free flying experience. You also want to make sure you avoid common airport mistakes that could ruin your trip, and we have all those in the next video. Follow Project Untethered on Instagram and TikTok for more bite-sized travel hacks. See you guys. Bye bye.