Survive a Long-Haul Flight With These Travel Essentials

Unless you’re fortunate enough to have the life pampered out of you in first class, chances are you’ll be roughing it out in coach like the rest of us mere mortals. It’s a well-known fact that long-haul flights can be a pretty intense endurance test that only the strong survive, but with these travel essentials on hand, you’re one step closer towards surviving at least eight hours of being seated uncomfortably close to a random stranger.

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Comfy clothing

It’s going to be a long flight so you’re going to want to make yourself as comfortable as possible and skinny jeans just don’t really cut it. Pack a set of clothes that you can change into during your journey, preferably something roomy and soft so it won’t be riding up every time to re-adjust yourself in your seat.

Baby powder

Use it to prevent chafing, soothe your skin or if your hair is feeling a little oily during your flight, shake some into your hair and use it as DIY dry shampoo. The talc absorbs the grease from your scalp and gives your hair a volume boost that should hold you up until you get access to your next shower.

Travel-sized toiletries

Freshening up during your flight perks you up and makes long journeys way more bearable so remember to decant your moisturisers, facial cleansers and etc into empty 100ml bottles and carry them along with you during your journey. Also consider picking up some deodorant towelettes and sticking them into your toiletry kit as they’re lightweight and disposable.

Handy tip: Use your old contact lens cases to store your face and eye-creams. Remember to sanitise and dry them before transferring your products into them!

Noise-cancelling earphones

Foam earplugs don’t always do a good job at cancelling out noise so to really drown out the sounds of crying children, the hum of the aircraft and the chatter of the massive group of vacationers in row F, invest in a pair of high-quality noise-cancelling earphones and stick them into your carry-on for a good night’s sleep thousands of miles up in the air.

Eye mask

Never underestimate the value of having an eye-mask at your disposal when you’re travelling across time zones. Eye masks keep you sane when the person in front of you opens the window or when your seatmate switches on their reading light just as you’re about to fall into peaceful slumber.

Powerbank

Charge all your gadgets before boarding your flight, but in the event that you exhaust your phone’s battery after watching movie after movie to distract yourself from the mild turbulence, you’re going to want to be able to juice up your batteries, especially if you need to connect to the internet or make any phone calls upon arrival at your destination.

Travel pillow

A compact travel pillow gives you added comfort and takes the strain off your neck as you try to fall asleep against the stiff headrest of a plane seat. The complementary pillows provided on airplanes are often deflated and small so you’re going to want something with a little bit more oomph to to keep you comfy for the next eight hours or so.

Your own in-flight entertainment

Books, magazines, load-up your tablet with music and movies, do what you must. Long-haul flights typically have a decent selection of on on-board entertainment but in the instance that it goes bust or if you want a little bit more variety to sustain you during your journey, it’s good to bring something along as backup.

Antibacterial wet wipes

Great for when you need to sanitise your hands before meals, clean up any spills, wipe down grimey arm rests or for when you need to freshen up in your seat when the toilet is occupied or if your seatmate is fast-asleep and you’re not comfortable with waking them up. Multi-purpose and lightweight, these guys fit discreetly into your travelling kit.

A pashmina or scarf

Planes can get pretty chilly and the scratchy wool blankets on board are often not large enough. Plus, you can’t really tell if they’ve been properly sanitised and washed in between uses. Bring a pashmina or a cozy scarf that you can use as reinforcement. Even if you don’t use it as an additional blanket, you can always bunch it up and use it as a pillow.