Long-Haul Flight Survival Kit: What You Really Need

I don't think there's anything I talk about on my channel that I am more passionate about than comfort during long flights. I have one coming up. I have a bag here filled with everything I'm going to bring on the plane with me. Whether you have done long-haul flights a million times, whether it's your first one, I hope you'll find something in this video that will be helpful. I take it wildly seriously, and these are my ride or dies, the things I cannot live without on a long-haul flight, and I'm really glad you're here. I cannot stress enough that, for me, having some comfort items on the plane is kind of a make-it-or-break-it situation. Because even if I don't actually sleep, at least getting some good rest, some good, like, I don't know, restorative time really makes a huge difference when I hit the ground running for my vacation. And you've spent probably a lot of time and a lot of money planning and paying for this vacation, so you want to feel as well-rested as possible when you get to your destination. And also, let's just face it, 11 hours, you know, right like this to another human being, you're going to want some comfort items. So these are the things that I deem to be the most important things. This is probably my 20th long-haul flight. I didn't really count. It's somewhere around there. I fly over to Europe typically at least once a year. I've flown to Japan. This particular trip is to Greece, and it's almost 11 hours non-stop from Atlanta to Athens, Greece, and this is what I must have. Now, first of all, let's talk about the bag itself. This is the Tumi Veneta Tote. This is a size large. You can absolutely do with a much less expensive tote bag. Don't feel like you have to go out and buy anything, but you do want it to have a few features. So for me, it's important that it has some external pockets that are easy to get to. So this is where I'm going to put my passport, my really essential items that I need to be able to get to, and then also that it have a zippered closure. A lot of people I see with tote bags that don't have a way to secure it closed. They look kind of miserable. Everything's kind of spilling out of their bags. This one has the zippers okay. It's one of these where you have to kind of close it and futz with it a bit, but at least I can zip it and I know that the items inside are secure. The other non-negotiable thing that a good personal item bag has to have for me is a trolley sleeve, and that's because when I'm going through the airport, I don't want to have to be hauling a heavy bag on my shoulders. I'm 54, and I find that a really heavy backpack or a really heavy shoulder bag are really not good for me, and especially not before I'm going to get on a situation where I'm sitting for 11 hours. So a trolley handle enables me to not have to have it dragging my body down. Very good ergonomic choice. I will also be taking a small roller bag that will fit in the overhead so I can put this on my roller bag and toodle around the airport and not wreck my back in the process. Okay, so as we get inside the bag, you can see I've got everything compartmentalized. Now, you could easily go with, and I do own actually, a bag that had no internal organization. I really like having individual pouches even when a bag has a lot of internal organization like this one does. This one has a laptop sleeve, it also has a zipper compartment, and it has a couple of smaller pockets here. I don't really utilize those because I want to be able to look in the bag, grab what I need, and not be rifling through. And let's talk before we get into the bags about the rifling through situation. Especially if you've never been on a long-haul flight or if you haven't been on one in a while, I feel like it's kind of like labor. You forget how incredibly close you are to the person next to you. So getting into your bag and like doing like this to try to get into your things is going to be very disruptive to your neighbor. If you're me, it makes you very embarrassed. And especially if people are trying to sleep and you realize that your lip balm is like in the bottom of your bag and then you're like ripping everything out, nobody wants that. Your neighbor may not care, but for me, I feel self-conscious when that happens. So having everything in its own little bag, I mean, look at that. Come on now. Doesn't that just make your organizational heart happy? All right, let's talk about, we're going to go from, well, it's all essential. I can't go from most essential to least essential because it's all essential, but let's start with what I have in the electronics pouch here. I am not bringing my laptop on this trip, but the first thing I have are my Bose noise-canceling headphones. For long-haul flying, these are a must. They hold a 20-hour charge. So I will have no problem them lasting the whole time. The noise-canceling capacity on these is incredible. Yes, I have flown a nine-hour flight with a crying baby, hardly noticed it. I did feel really bad for mom, but yes, hardly noticed it, was able to sleep. The baby was fine, by the way, spoiler alert, but you know how that is. So also in here, I have my essential cables, right? So these are the cables that I have to have to charge my phone. This little cable here, which enables me to use my wired headphones with my phone if I want, if for some reason I lose power. Can you tell the headphone situation is very important to me? And then I also have in here this little cable that allows me to use the noise-canceling headphones with the entertainment on board. Okay. So all of that is in here. I also have a couple of my business cards, you know, because it's always inevitable if somebody asks me what I do and I like to be prepared. So those. Also, I have in here a notebook and a pen. Where did my pen go? Here it is. Because for some reason, I always think of things when I'm flying. I think of things I want to make sure I tell you guys. This particular video, I'm actually going to try to do like a full flight review of Premium Select on Delta. So I want to make notes about the service that will help me with the video when I get back home. So notebook and pen. Okay. Next item in here is my iPad. I have a couple of books loaded on here, including Ina Garten's autobiography. And I'm also going to download, I haven't done it yet. I need to do it today. I think it's Michael Jarrell, My Family and Other Animals, which is a wonderful novel about the island of Corfu set in the 1940s. Probably a lot of you have watched the PBS drama. It was so good. But because I'm going to Corfu, I thought that would be a fun, I haven't decided yet if I'm going to read it or if I'm going to do the audio book. I'll probably do the audio book because it feels like that would be fun to listen to. So my iPad. Also, my important documents. I am going on a Viking cruise. And in here, I have my luggage tags and my travel information. These will be very important as soon as I land. So making sure I know where these are so that I can stick them on my luggage as soon as I get to baggage claim. That way, Viking can whisk my luggage away and bring it to my room because that's what they do, because they're amazing. I'm going to be talking a lot more about Viking Cruise Lines. So if that's something that's interesting to you, make sure you go ahead and subscribe. Okay. Thank you. Also, these two things are, these are new. Well, not really. I've done this for a while. I have emergency phone numbers. I have everybody's phone number written down. I have my physician's phone number written down, my lawyer's phone number written down. And I also have the Viking emergency assistance information written down. And here's why. It's great that everything is in our phones now, but if I should lose my phone, break my phone, something should happen to my phone. I don't have these numbers memorized. So it's really important that you have them written down. This is just a page I ripped from my planner. I wrote emergency phone numbers on it, and I will have this with all of my important travel papers. And then this is a printout of my travel insurance in case I should get into trouble. Again, I have it all electronically, but if I should find myself in need of medical assistance, it will be good to also have a paper copy of that. I appreciate that we all have everything on our phones now, but it is not a especially when traveling overseas as a solo traveler to have a backup because I'm not traveling with a partner that also has a phone or iPad or whatever. So this, for me, is very important for peace of mind. And you know how that works. If you have it available, you won't need it. So that's everything from the electronics part of things. Also, of course, I'll have my phone, but that's what I'm filming on right now. So my phone will be in here as well. Now, this first pouch is a little bum bag, fanny pack in the US, bum bag in the UK. And the reason why this is so essential is this is my bathroom bum bag. So when I go to use the restroom on the plane, this is everything I'll want to make sure I have with me. It's important that it have a strap that you can either wear crossbody or somehow, because sometimes when you get into the bathroom, if you have a little pouch or a bag, there's no place clean to set it down. So I want to have this ready to go. I can also wear this during the flight. So anytime I need to get up to use the restroom, I'm ready to go. Let me show you what is in here. This is going to be a long video. I feel like when I do these videos, I tend to rush and I was determined not to rush this time. So hopefully it doesn't get too boring. All right. The first thing we have in here are Clorox disinfecting wipes. When I go to the restroom on the airplane, the very first thing I do is wipe everything down. It is the only way I can use the restroom with any kind of peace. It takes me all of five seconds and it just makes me feel better about the world. So I have these disinfectant wipes. I have tissues because I have more than once gotten into an airplane bathroom and it was too late and I realized that they were out of toilet tissue. So these are nice to have as a backup. I have hand sanitizer because in case for some inexplicable reason, there's no soap in the soap dispenser. I want to be sure I can take care of myself. I will say Delta always also has hand sanitizers on the wall as you get out of the restroom. So that would be another backup, but I like having my own. I also have in here lip balm and hand cream. Now these are the two things that during the flight I have to be able to get to at all times because as we know airplane air will dry you out like the Sahara desert in about 10 minutes. So these are the two things. My husband, the pilot, my friends that are flight attendants, every single person I've ever known that works in the air in aviation will tell you lip balm and hand cream are the two things you have to have. So those will be in there. I actually think I have two more of those in my other bag because I don't want to not have that. This little baby here is my evening medication. So it's separated out from the rest of my medication. Don't worry, I will have my prescription medicine, the actual bottles, but this is everything I need to take before I go to sleep at night. This is so when we've had dinner and I go to the restroom and get myself cleaned up, I can take my little bottle of water in there with me and I can take my pills and I'll be ready to sleep. Hopefully, fingers crossed, but either way these are the medications I have to take. This little container is by a company called something designed by Human Gear. I got it years and years ago but it's designed by Human Gear. I'll see if I can find a link for y'all. You know I don't shop Amazon anymore but I'll do my best. But yeah, my pills for the night are in here and then a Colgate Wisp. Now I'll put this, I have extras of those, so on the way back I'll stick a fresh container of these. But these are these little waterless toothbrush things. You can do these without any water. I say this every time but I'm going to say it again, do not drink the water in the airplane bathrooms. It is not potable, meaning it is not, it's like gray water, you cannot drink it. It's fine for washing hands, do not drink it. So if you're going to use one of these, you actually don't need water at all but I will take a little bottle of water with me into the bathroom and I will brush my teeth before bed. And actually, you know what, I'm going to want one more because I'm also going to want to do that again on the way in. So note to self Jen, stick another little Colgate Wisp in there before we land because you want to have fresh breath when you land. Okay, so all that's going back in there. This will also, by the way, fit my phone. And a really quick note on that, you want to make sure that the sweater or jacket that you plan to wear during the flight has a zippered pocket because the worst thing is like if you're holding your phone and you hear it hit the floor and then again with the disruption and it's the middle of the night and you're this close to the person next to you and you can't find your phone and all the things. So make sure you have a secure place to put your phone that has a zipper so that you don't drop it. I tell myself that and yet it still seems to always happen so hopefully this time it won't. So my phone will easily fit in there. Okay, this is my second little cabin bag and this one has what I will call the niceties for the trip for me. And actually this, which holds my Invisalign, needs to go in here. So I'm so glad that I have a YouTube channel because we can do these things because I need to take my Invisalign out obviously before meals. Okay, so this one is stuff that I don't have to have on my person but these are all the niceties that I might want during the flight. These are the things that are going to make me feel a little human. These are the things that are going to be comfort items to me. They're products that I'm familiar with that just make me happy. So I have, again, more tissues because you can never have enough tissues. I have more hand lotion because like we talked about. I have this little bloom cream. This is from Beekman 1802. This is just a little sample size that I got but this will be great for any time during the flight that I just want a little moisture on my face. Speaking of moisture on my face during the flight, this is again from Beekman 1802 and I'll link what I can down in the description box. And this is a fabulous brand made in the United States, LGBTQ owned, fabulous brand. But this is the Milkshake Hyaluronic Acid and Squalane Facial Toner Mist. What does this do? Minimizes pores and hydrates and soothes skin. When you're like in the middle of the flight and your skin feels like paper, this will make you so happy. It will just make you feel fresh. It will moisturize your skin and you shake it up and that's what activates it. In fact, let's go ahead and do this. I'm kind of addicted to this stuff and I feel a little embarrassed about it because I got this in their advent calendar and clearly it's time for me to get more. So that is in there. I have my day cream and my night cream. Now if you're wondering, Jen, don't you have to have your liquids separated? In the United States at most major airports, you no longer have to take your liquids out and I have TSA pre-check so I don't have to take my liquids out at all. On the way back in from the airport in Venice, which is where I'm flying home from, I may very well have to take my liquids out, but I have an accommodation for that. So I'll tell you about that in just a minute. But these are those little capsule by Cadence is what it's called. And I have my day cream and my night cream and these are so great. And let me tell you, they're great for a lot of reasons. This is a week's worth, believe it or not. Let me tell you the thing that I love the most about these, not sponsored, not affiliate. You're in flight and there's a lot of turbulence, but you're like, oh, I really want to put on some cream and you don't want to risk dropping the little lid to your container. What? Magnetized. So you put on your little moisturizer and you're good to go. Whoops, I got some on my hand. That's okay because actually my hands could always use a bit more moisture. So I've got my day cream and my night cream, both. And there you go. Those are good to go. Wrap that in. This does have a little bit of a scent to it. I talk about this every time I do one of these videos. You want to make sure you're not putting things on yourself in the airplane that have a really strong scent because it can be very irritating to anyone who have allergies. So just be mindful of that. Also, I have more hand sanitizer because, you know, you can never have too much of that on an international flight. I have these CareTouch lens and screen cleaning wipes to both clean my phone and the lens of my camera. I have some mints because a girl can always use a mint. So I have these in there. I have some more lip balm. I told you, this is probably my favorite. That other lip balm that's in there is the Beekman 1802. But this is, you know, I clearly I take that situation very seriously. I also have in here a tiny, well, not a tiny bit of makeup. This is really all my makeup is. This is from Subtle Stacks. This has lip and cheek, eyeshadow, concealer and bronzer, and then my mascara. I will do a really quick application of makeup before we land. This is very discreet, this little Subtle Stack. It even has a little mirror there. So I can even just do that in my seat. It's not a big deal. And then a nail file. Is that it? Yes, that is everything that is in there. So let's put all of that back because after all this careful preparation, I would hate to leave something. So again, none of those things are, you know, you're not going to die if you don't have any, well, you're not going to die if you don't have any of this stuff. But these are the things that are going to make me feel more like a human being, both when I'm getting ready for bed and when we're getting ready to land, just so I can feel a little more fresh. And I have one other thing along those lines I'm going to show you in just a minute. This is my neck pillow. Now, this is not the container it came in. The container it came in, it doesn't really compress it very well, but this neck pillow I have had now, this is my second one because, here's why this is my second one, because I had one last time I was in Rome and I bought some stuff and I couldn't fit it back in my bag and I actually just threw it away, which now feels like it was a dumb idea because as soon as I got back, I ordered another one. So I'm not going to do that again. But the reason I love this is you can move it around however it's comfortable. If you're up against the window, you can use it that way. You turn it to where it works for your neck. It's so soft. I don't know why it works so well for me. I have seen so many people who say, you don't need a neck pillow. I am one of these, you know, where my head just falls forward all the time. So if I'm reclined and I have this, and I can have just a little bit of something-something so that doesn't happen, that will really help me get better rest. So for me, it is worth taking up the extra space to have a neck pillow. Okay. And again, I will link that if I can. Yeah, we'll find it. This is my eye mask. This is by Fresh Me is the brand. The reason I love this eye mask so much is because it is soft and it does not press up against my eyes. So it's just beautiful. I just love it so much. It's just like even putting it on now, I could go to sleep. It just applies enough that it makes me know that it's time to go to sleep. Sends a cue to my brain that says, hey girl, hey, you need to go to sleep. So love this. Oh, there's a dog hair on it. Well, what else is new? And then this. Now I'm going to insert footage here of me demonstrating this. I, this blanket, this blanket, this little pouch, it has its own self pouch. All right, I'm going to open it up and show you. It is by a company called something. Wait, it's on the, it's on the thing. I'll tell you what it is. What is the name? Where's the name? Here we go. Gravel. The company is called Gravel. G-R-A-V-E-L. Now it looks really, really thin, right? It's not. It's so freaking warm, but it's like I've got a really light down filling. So it kind of temperature regulates. Here's the part of it that, and I'm going to do the demonstration. It's going to blow your mind. So two things. Number one, it will snap behind your head. So the biggest problem I have with other travel blankets that I've owned and the travel blankets they have on the airplane is that there's it. Every time you move the blanket, like comes up, it's not long enough. This thing is long enough for me, for my whole body. So the first feature is there's a snap so you can put it around your neck so that it doesn't like fall off on you. The second feature, and I actually had it the wrong way. That little pouch that I just showed you that it came in doubles as a little zipper pouch. And it's on the inside. If you are traveling, like maybe you're traveling on trains and things, and you're a little concerned about your belongings. This is a great place to stash your cash or your passport or whatever. Maybe you're young and you're going to be in a hostel. Not that you can't be in a hostel if you're older, but you know what I mean. White Lotus line just came to mind. But you can put your items in there and they're not accessible because they're next to your body, right? Okay. So there's that. So then the final feature, this one will blow your mind. There are wheel, like wells. I want to say wheel wells, but that's not right. For your feet. So you know how airplanes are always freezing and especially my legs always get cold and I can never like feel like I really have a blanket on because I'm always getting a draft. You put your feet in these little things and then the blanket is like covering your whole body. It's also thin enough. And this is very important. You want to make sure that you buckle your seat belt over the blanket. Okay. So that way, when the flight attendant comes by, if it's going to be really turbulent, she can see that you're all buckled up. But I'm telling you, this blanket is worth every square centimeter of space that it will take up. It not only is great for in the flight, but if your hotel room is too cold, it can double as that. I had a dream once that I was going to design like a travel comforter. And I originally bought this because I was doing like some oppo, right? To see like what was already on the market. I love this blanket so much that I was like, oh, I don't need to invent it because it already exists. So this blanket's amazing. A lot of people who camp use this blanket. I bought one for one of my sons that does a lot of outdoorsy stuff because it has the carrying case. It's got this if you want to carabiner it on. It's water resistant. Amazing. Love that. Sorry. Got very enthusiastic about the blanket. Okay. And then the last couple of things I have in here, I have these Beekman 1802 goat milk face and body cleansing wipes. Now, when I go to the ladies room before we land, I will actually take this bag and these with me because I will just do a quick little wipe down. Just a quick little something something to make me feel fresh and clean. You're going to feel gross. You've been on an airplane. You've been with strangers. It's just a whole thing. So having something that just makes you feel a little bit fresh before you land, that's a game changer. So these do not have a super strong scent. Again, I'm going to use them in the ladies room, but they just, oh, trust me. They just make everything feel so much better. So those. I also have in here a variety of Ziploc bags. So remember how I said before that coming back when we're coming out of Venice, it's possible that I may have to take my liquids out. European airports lately are all over the place. Sometimes you have to take your liquids out. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes in the same airport, one terminal will have you taking your liquids out and another terminal won't. It's just madness. So I have two little Ziploc bags that are quart size in case I need to quickly separate out my liquids. And when I pack up from the Viking ship to head home, I will make sure and sort my liquids into these two little or into one of these two Ziploc bags. I don't really know why I had two. That just seemed wise. And then the other thing I have, and I actually have another one of these in my checked bag for on the way back, is a Ziploc bag for trash. Now, listen, last time I gave this tip, a bunch of people were like, well, just use, you know, the plastic bag from your pillow and blanket or just use the air sickness bag or whatever. I like having a bag with a closure that I can put the trash in. So here's what happens on a long haul flight if you've never taken one, or if it's been a while and you forgot. What happens is they feed you, but then it seems like they never come around to get the trash when you need them to. And maybe you're like, you need to go to the restroom, you want to go to sleep, and you have all this trash in your area. To me, having a Ziploc bag that seals, especially if it's like a cup that maybe has a tiny bit of liquid still in it or whatever, I can just put my trash in here throughout the flight, I can seal it up, I can put it on the ground, and then when the flight attendant comes by, I can just hand her my little contained bag of trash. It makes me happy. You do what you need to do, but having trash everywhere, especially when I'm ready to like go to sleep for the night, no, no, no, no, no, no, we cannot do that. So having a Ziploc bag, game changer. And like I said, I'll put another one in there. In the out pockets, outside pockets, oh, there it is. Well, good, we can go ahead and refill now. Let me get another Colgate Wisp and put that in here, because that way we'll have one for takeoff and one for landing, or I should say one for bedtime and one for landing. Put that in a little zipper pocket. Okay, that's done. Whoops. Okay, more of these in case I need them, and also I will need them for the flight back. More tissues in the outside zipper pocket, and these little fresh wipes. These are just backups. Obviously, I have these, but you know, you can never have too many wipes when you're getting on an airplane. Again, you know, with a bunch of strangers. And then I have a couple of lactaid pills in here in case they give me ice cream. They probably won't, but you never know. Okay, and then over here, I have just my passport wallet. This has my global entry card, one of my credit cards and a few euros. I will get euros at the airport when we get to Athens, but I have just a few just in case. And then I will have my regular wallet, which is still in my purse downstairs, will go in here as well. So yeah, so that is everything that I am taking. The only thing I have to add is my little little water bottle, which will just set down in the front. I hope if you have a long-haul flight coming up that my very extensive and very detailed tour of what is in my long-haul flight personal item bag was helpful. Remember that a long-haul flight is just like anything else where you're sitting there for a long time. As long as you have entertainment, as long as you have a few comfort items, as long as you approach it with the right mindset, try to get some rest. Don't stress out if you don't like sleep really well. I probably will because that's like my superhero thing is I sleep really well on long-haul flights, but have what will be comfortable for you. And I hope if you have a flight coming up or you're dreaming of one that you have very, very safe and wonderful travels. Whatever you're doing today, I hope you're finding joy and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.