Long-haul flight tips SURVIVAL GUIDE: Proven strategies for an easy-peasy flight (even in economy)

Today I'm going to show you how to survive a long-haul flight like a boss, even in economy class. I've been traveling the world almost non-stop for almost 7 years now, and I've had my fair share of long-haul flights. Many of these long-haul flight tips I had to learn the hard way, which really can make your trip suck. To help you avoid the suckiness, here's exactly what you need to do. We'll start with some general long-flight tips that are often forgotten, and then we'll get into some clever hacks to never suffer from jet lag again. First and foremost is the fanny pack. I don't care if it's ugly, it's an absolute long-haul flight essential, trust me, you'll thank me later. Not only does it help you stay organized while you're going through airport security and give you extra free space for packing, but it also makes your long-haul flight more comfortable. You can keep all of your essentials at arm's reach, which means that you don't have to get up all the time and mess with your overhead luggage and hope that all your stuff doesn't come crashing down on other people's heads. I'll link to the one I use that has tons of space, was pretty cheap on Amazon, and comes in a bunch of different colors. Next up is to choose your personal item size carefully. If your fanny pack can't fit all of the things that you need next to you, like for example if you're taking a laptop or an iPad or something, you need to have a personal item that actually fits below the seat in front of you. This is oftentimes easier said than done because many airlines don't list what the dimensions are below their seats, they just say that it has to fit below the seats, and so you don't know exactly what size bag you need. That said, you should be pretty safe if your bag measures below 16 by 12 by 6 inches. I recommend using a flexible backpack and not jamming it completely full, that way if the dimensions happen to be a tiny bit smaller, you can still squeeze it under the seats. Next is to make sure that you get on the plane stat if you plan to put real carry-on luggage up in the overhead bins. Normally I'm the type of person who just likes to wait and sit and watch everyone else wait in line to board the plane and then be the last one, but if you're on a long-haul flight, you're going to want your carry-on luggage to be close to you, and if you're the last one to board, the overhead space might fill up, so then you might have to put your carry-on luggage far away, and if you need anything, that's kind of a hassle. You're also going to want to choose your foods wisely, because greasy food and salty food, eggs, fizzy drinks, alcohol, and caffeine are all risky on the day of and during your flight because all of these things can make you bloated, and when you're 40,000 feet up in the air, the cabin pressure changes, makes gases expand even more, which will make you double bloated, uncomfortable, and annoying your neighbors with your farts. To avoid these issues, make sure that you eat light on the day of the flight, and if you want even extra protection, you can drink a glass of lemon water before boarding. In addition to the gassy problems, caffeine and alcohol are also diuretics, which make you pee more. Not only will it be annoying having to go to the nasty bathroom all the time, but it can also give you a headache and worsen jet lag. Speaking of dehydration, water is your friend on long-haul flights. On shorter flights, I generally don't drink as much water just to avoid having to go to the bathroom, but long-haul flights are a different ballgame. You're going to have to go anyway, so might as well avoid those headaches and jet lag symptoms. Headaches are not fun when you're already exhausted and confused from traveling 15 hours and crossing 10 time zones. The low humidity in planes also tends to dehydrate your skin, and so it's also helpful to bring some moisturizer and chapstick. Next, you're going to want to pack some good snacks to avoid being at the mercy of the airline food, and also to save some money if you have layovers in the airport. I once had a mega flight with one long-haul and two medium-hauls back to back to back. I thought it'd be clever and frugal and pack an entire loaf of bread and an entire jug of peanut butter. But it turns out, peanut butter is considered a liquid, and since it was more than 100 milliliters, they wouldn't let me pass through security. The joke was on them though, because instead of forfeiting my beloved peanut butter, I turned around, went back to the main area, made 10 peanut butter jelly sandwiches, turned around, and then made it through security. Take that, TSA. That said, if you'd rather not complicate your life as I tend to do, you can also just bring some protein bars or apples or something. Just make sure that you eat all of your fruit before entering into a new country. Alright, before we get into some of my favorite long-flight tips for sleeping like a baby, let's talk about bathrooms and dress. If you're smart, you'll plan your bathroom breaks strategically, because most other travelers follow a certain pattern and they all go to the bathroom at the same time. That means if you do the opposite of this pattern, you won't have to wait in long lines and you'll likely have a cleaner bathroom to use. For example, people who forgot to go to the bathroom before boarding the plane are all going to get up at the same time when the seatbelt sign goes off. People also tend to have full bladders an hour or two after eating meals. That means if you make sure to go to the bathroom before boarding a plane, and as soon as you see them starting to hand out the food before your meal, you can normally beat the crowds. Next is to wear plane-friendly clothes, and this really isn't rocket science here. It just means wearing comfy, stretchy, and loose clothes that don't require a belt. Also, layer up your clothes because you don't know what the temperature is going to be like inside, and the last thing you want is to be chattering your teeth for 15 hours straight. Layering up also helps you save space in your luggage so that you can pack more if you need it. Wearing slip-on shoes is also handy because if you want to fly in the plane and take your shoes off, you can just slip them on and off whenever you need to go to the bathroom or something. That said, if you have ranky, stanky feet, please keep your shoes on, thank you. If you have varicose veins or personal or family history of blood clots, it also might be a good idea to wear compression shocks. Moving around frequently and pumping your calves up and down can also keep your blood flowing. Alright, on to sleepy tips, and the first thing you want to do is make sure that you bring all your sleeping essentials and that you follow your normal bedtime routine. So if you normally brush your teeth and stretch and read before bed, do the same thing on the plane. If those normal neck pillows are comfortable for you, make sure to use those, but for me, I find these super uncomfortable because my head feels like it's always going forward or to the side, it just feels like they're too big. That's why for my last flight, I tested out this crazy looking turtle neck pillow. But basically, you just wrap it real snug around your neck and then that lets you just tilt your head to one side and fall asleep. This is especially helpful if you don't have a window seat to lean your head on, but more on the window versus aisle seat conundrum in a second. The turtle pillow does take a little practice in getting used to, but in the end, I was able to sleep much better than I am usually with a normal neck pillow. They're a little bit pricey, and so if you're on a budget, another hack that I heard about is people just go on Amazon and buy normal neck braces that you'd buy if you get injured or something. They have some options that don't look too ridiculous, which I'll link to below. But basically, it just keeps your neck in one position and so you can just kind of move it to the side and you don't have to worry about your head drifting off and going like this all the time. By the way, if you're just planning on using the pillow and blanket that the airline provides, I wouldn't recommend it. Firstly, unless you're the first flight of the day, you're going to be reusing the same pillows and blankets that who knows how many mystery people's dirty, sweaty bodies have been cuddling up in for the past several hours. That's why in addition to my pillow, I also normally throw in my microfiber travel towel into my personal item. That way, I don't need to carry an extra blanket, and if I get cold, I can just use my towel as a blanket. Now, as far as headphones go, you're going to see a lot of people with those big, bulky over-the-head headphones, and those are great and all, but from my experience, it makes it harder to get comfortable and sleep. For example, if you want to lean your head on the window, it kind of gets in the way, or if you're using a travel pillow, some travel pillows like push it up and down, and so they're just a little bit bulky for my taste. Instead, I normally use noise-canceling earbuds that go inside my ears, and I'll link down to the exact pair that I use in case you're interested. The risk here though is that one of the little buds falls out and you lose it, and so make sure that you have an extra tight fit. If your headphones have a wired option, another hot tip is to bring one of those small little adapters that will plug into the airplane's entertainment system. The earbuds that the airlines normally provide for you for free are super cheap, and they break all the time, and on my last long-haul flight, I remember that the sound was completely out in one ear, and the other ear, it would only work if I lifted up the cord with my hand like this, and so I was just sitting like this for hours and hours and hours on end, and so you can avoid this by bringing your own adapter. And if you only have Bluetooth headphones without wires, there is another solution I haven't tried yet, and so if you do try it, let me know how it works. But basically, it's just a little Bluetooth device that you plug into the airplane headphone jack, and that allows you to connect to it via Bluetooth. Lastly, to help you sleep, download offline some guided meditations or some sleepy time music that you can put in your headphones. This will drown out any crying babies, and in the case of our last flight, parents who let their obnoxious kids play video games on their iPad with the sound cranked all the way up for everyone to hear. Does that make me sound like an old grouch? It's also not a bad idea to pack one of those blackout eye masks, and they may seem like overkill, but as you'll see in a minute, they can actually help reduce jet lag. Now you're probably not going to be sleeping for the entire flight, and so it's also important to bring some of your own entertainment, and on my last flight, I found a free way to stay permanently entertained. But first, most long-haul flights are going to have some sort of in-flight entertainment. They can use some screens on the back of the seats that are in front of you, but you don't want to depend on those, and it's a good idea to have a plan B, because what if your seat happens to be the only seat where the screen's not working, and you didn't bring a plan B, and now you're just sitting there twiddling your thumbs for 15 hours? That would really suck. A popular option that a lot of people do is they just download Netflix shows and movies onto their iPads or phones offline so they can watch it on the airplane, but I'm kind of a YouTube freak, and I have like 500 videos saved to my watch later list, and so a trick that I discovered is that you can just sign up for a free trial of YouTube Premium right before you leave on your trip, and go through and download offline all the videos that you never have time to watch that you want to watch, and then on the plane, you can just power through them all ad free, and finally get through that list. If you're more of a reader, don't forget a book or some sort of e-reader, and just make sure all of your electronics that you bring are charged the night before you go on your flight, because a lot of the times they have like a little USB that you can charge, but these tend to charge things super slow, and you can only charge one thing at a time, and so it would suck if you got into the plane and realized that your Kindle and your phone and your headphones all had 1% battery, and you couldn't use them on your flight. I also like to always have an internet plan for when I arrive at my destination. Flying 10 to 15 hours can be a little bit disorienting, and it's just nice to arrive at the airport and already have a data plan on your phone that you can use to order an Uber or find your accommodation or contact anyone that you need to contact. Not all airports have working Wi-Fi, and not all airports sell physical SIM cards for you to buy, and even when they do, this is not stuff that you really want to do when you're sleepy and tired anyways. That's why I recommend loading up a travel e-SIM onto your phone before leaving on your flight. If you want to learn how easy it is to instantly have data on your phone wherever you go in the world, plus how to get a discount, watch this video next. I know this video covers a lot. If you're already starting to forget some of the tips, I made an easy checklist that you can download for free down in the description. Next up is to choose your seat carefully. Everyone has their preferences when it comes to window versus aisle seat, but it will definitely affect your comfort level on a long-haul flight. Here are some things to consider. When I take short budget flights, I normally like aisle seats because it gives me a little bit extra legroom on the cramped flights, and I probably won't be sleeping anyway. But on long-haul flights, you normally have a little bit of extra legroom to begin with, and so the aisle seat kind of loses some of its luster. If you're worried about legroom, you can check measurements for your specific flight on SeatGuru.com. Anyway, on long-haul flights, I prefer window seats because it gives you a little extra something to rest your head on, and this is especially important if you didn't bring a pillow. The downside is, if you're known to pee a lot, you're going to have to ask and bug your neighbors all the time to get up. Although, I once had someone comment on one of my videos that they actually put on double up adult diapers when they go on long-haul flights so they never have to go up and go to the bathroom. But on the flip side, if you choose an aisle seat, you risk sitting next to someone with small bladder syndrome who wakes you up to go to the bathroom every hour. But if you really love aisle seats, another thing you can do is to make sure your aisle seat is on the interior section of the flight. That way, if you have a frequent peer sitting next to you, they'll have two different options to go out, and that will pretty much half the times that you get bothered. Keep in mind, if you don't like your seat, you can also ask an airline attendant if you can move to a free open seat once everyone boards the plane. Earlier, I recommended boarding the plane as fast as possible, but one advantage to being the very last person to board is, as you're walking on, you can see if there's any open seats that don't have neighbors, and you can just snag one of those seats. I don't think anyone would know the difference. But do it at your own risk. Okay, here's how to say goodbye to jet lag forever. Jet lag happens when your internal clock, or your circadian rhythm, gets thrown off by crossing a bunch of different time zones. This is especially true when you're traveling east. This causes sleeping problems at night, exhaustion during the day, and it can also throw off your mood and even give you diarrhea or constipation. In addition to changing time zones, the changes in cabin pressure in the plane can also dehydrate you, which will worsen all of these symptoms. Fortunately, there are some tips for long flights that are proven to minimize jet lag. First, before your trip, gradually adjust your sleep schedule so that it matches the schedule that you'll be going to bed at your destination. If you're traveling east, that might mean going to bed one hour earlier and waking up one hour earlier every day before your flight. If traveling west, you can start going to bed one hour later and waking up one hour later each day before your flight. The more you're able to shift your clock this way, the less jet lag you will have. Now obviously there are some limits here because if you do it too much, it's going to interfere with your daily life, but just do it as much as you can. The same idea applies to the flight itself. Try to sleep on the plane when it's bedtime in your target destination and try to stay awake on the plane when it's daytime in your target destination. This can feel a little bit awkward and inconvenient because many times that means going to sleep when it's light outside the plane and when everyone else on the plane is awake and making noise. That's just one more reason to have those noise-canceling earbuds and an eye mask. To make it a little bit easier to sleep when it's light outside, you can also just pop a melatonin about 30 minutes before you're planning to go to sleep. Apart from changing your sleep strategy, another way to avoid jet lag is to simply drink plenty of water during your flight to avoid dehydration. Next up are ways to stay fresh on the plane and it's normal to start feeling a little bit grimy and dirty after you're on a plane for several hours. Don't forget to pack a toothbrush, mouthwash, deodorant, maybe some baby wipes or whatever else you need that you can use to freshen up mid-flight. It's also not a bad idea to pack an extra outfit in your carry-on or personal item that you can change into right before leaving the plane. Clean clothes will not only make you feel better, but it's also handy in case your check bag gets delayed or lost. That said, if your check luggage is delayed or lost, you're probably eligible for reimbursement for reasonable expenses for things that you need to buy and this would include some new clothes. Gum is another thing that I always pack because it serves many different purposes when traveling. It keeps me fresh, chewing helps me stay awake when I'm supposed to be awake, and chewing also helps with ears popping when you're changing altitude. In addition to gum, there are also a handful of other super important things to add to your long-haul flight packing list. This next video gives you a list of everything you need including one awesome little thing that I just discovered on my last flight. Don't forget to follow us on TikTok for our best bite-sized travel hacks. Bye bye!