I’ve made 5 trips now between Easter Island and the U.S. in the last 12 months. Each trip was on average (and sometimes a lot more) 30 hours of flying and airport time. So what is that? 150 hours of traveling in the last year? And that was just the trips to Easter Island. That’s a lot of time in the air! So, I feel like I’m finally starting to get the hang of this traveling thing. We’ll, maybe not entirely. Sitting for hours on end cramped between strangers while the plane shakes and bounces through turbulence or is delayed on the runway for hours still makes me feel awful.
I’m always envious of those people that just look completely unaffected…you know, the ones with blank faces, that look utterly bored, reading their magazine, that move and dress with perfect style and poise and that look just as good when they get off the 10 hour flight as they did when they got on? That’s definitely not me. I’m the one whose contacts are dried out and can’t stop blinking, the with the matted hair from tossing and turning to get comfortable, while half of it sticks straight out from the static electricity of the dry air. I’m not a glamorous traveler. But, over the last 12 months I’d like to think I’ve finally got down the essentials that I need to be as comfortable as I can possibly be in flight. I’m not big on posting products here, because I don’t want anyone to think they actually need these things (you really don’t – they are all luxuries) and none of these are sponsored links…they are just products I’ve come to love and want to share. So here we go, my long flight travel essentials: 
This collapsible lunchbox is the best. We have talked about making homemade meals to bring on trips and shared our favorite recipe, so I won’t go into it more here, other than to say: Just do it! Bring your own food. It tastes better and is less greasy and sugary than what you’d probably buy in the airport. This container is great because it can collapse down to the size of a book and make you feel better about your impact on the environment because you aren’t throwing away plastic or styrofoam food containers.
This blanket & pillow combo has been a lifesaver for me when the cold air starts blowing mid flight. It always seems like just as you get to a comfortable temperature, someone complains about the heat and suddenly its 40 degrees on the plane. So even though most long flights give out blankets and pillows, I still bring this one to supplement. The blanket is a little small to cover your whole body, so it’s better for just the upper or lower half. The case with the blanket inside is a pillow in and of itself, but if you are using the blanket, there’s a blow up pillow you can use to fill the case and make a separate pillow. I rarely use the pillow, but sometimes it’s helpful to have.
Any eye mask is essential. I actually use the ones they give out for free on the long flights, although you can get much more luxurious ones online. These help black out the TV screen of the person in front, or for when they turn the lights back on 2.5 hours before landing and you’d rather still use that time to sleep.
An infinity scarf, or any scarf really is a must for me on flights, again to keep my neck warm when the air gets frigid. I’m just always so cold! But this helps.
And fuzzy slipper booties make the flight so much more warm and comfortable. They take up a bit of space in my bag, but they keep me so happy. I still take them off and put my shoes back on when I go to the bathroom though (why are airplane bathrooms so gross? It’s like every time a guy goes into an airplane bathroom, terrible turbulence hits and they end up going all over the floor and the seat, which obviously, they then leave up.
This collapsible footstool has saved my legs and my back! It’s probably the best of all these items to get me through a long flight. I first tried it out on our last production trip and I slept better on my long flights than I ever have before. I have terrible restless leg syndrome when I fly and this all but cured it. Even though I have long legs, just getting them a little bit up off the floor took the pressure off the back of my legs and relieved all the nerve pain I get. Sure you can put your feet on your bag, but if you are like me and your bag is too big to fit under the seat and leave room for your feet on top of it, then this is a better bet. It even extends side to side to become almost 15 inches wide.
This F1 Seat Pak has been great for organizing all the things I need access to on a flight. Now when I have to fill out immigration info I know right where my passport is, and my headphones and phone I keep in there too, along with medicine, bandaids, hand lotion, lip gloss, my eye mask, ear plugs, a granola bar, gum, and hair binders. Really all the things I might need to grab on a moments notice while in flight. It’s great to not have to dig through my bag trying to remember where I put each of those things. I can just put the seat pak in the seat back pocket or even better, hook it to the seat back pocket using a carabiner and all my stuff is right there.
Obviously a phone is good to have in flight, so you can communicate with people back home while on the ground and use it for listening to books or podcasts or music. Or maybe play candy crush. Delta and some other airlines now let you use your phone in airplane mode during take off and landing so now you really can travel with only your phone for entertainment and it’s available all flight long. Not sure if that’s good or bad…I still like having a tangible book on hand as well.
These Bose noise canceling headphone earbuds are a huge huge splurge but they are oh so worth it. I first saw our cameramen with them on our last trip to Easter Island. They have a small battery pack to generate sound waves that cancel out all the base tones and steady white noise like airplane engines. It’s incredible how quiet a flight can be with them on. And the best part is they are advertised as just as good as the over the ear ones (I’ve never had over the ear ones so I can’t compare but I love these). After a 10 hour flight they did start to hurt in my ears a little, but they allowed me to lean against the sides of my seat headrest to sleep, unlike a pair of over the ears, so I vote for these for comfort in flight. The stress of all that noise on your body for such long periods can be really significant so reducing that in any way possible is a good thing.
This lo & sons O.M.G. bag was another big splurge of mine this past year, but I also love it. It has just the right amount of compartments, it’s a great size for just what I need on the plane, it looks professional but not too stuffy, and it even has a secret side pocket that fits shoes (or slippers) for easier access and to keep them separate from the rest of the things in your bag.
I love my bkr water bottle or any glass water bottle for that matter. Water just takes so much better in glass. Just make sure it’s empty when you go through security and then find a fountain to fill it up before you get on the plane. And don’t leave it in your bag with your computer because you never know when the pressure of the airplane is going to make it leak a little and lead to an $800 computer repair (just for the record, while that did happen to me on our last trip, it was with a totally different water bottle that was much more leakable, but still, just to be safe, no matter how leak proof your bottle, keep it away from your electronics).
Our ipad mini with a rotating case has been great for movies, kindle books and game play (*cough candy crush *cough cough) because it can sit either horizontally or vertically on it’s stand. I often just watch movies on my phone, too, or on the longer flights we’re usually lucky enough to get planes with personal movie screens, but still it’s not bad to have another entertainment option, especially when there’s two of you. And if you get a head phone splitter you can share your movies with your travel buddy (if you are lucky enough to have one).
So, that turned out longer than I expected. But, there you go, the absolute essentials I travel with every single time now. But you know, if I got bumped to first class more often almost every single one of these items would not be needed……Ah well, got to keep it all in perspective. The fact I’m even flying at all is truly a gift…that I get to experience and enjoy these two drastically different worlds both of which I love so much is really what it’s all about.
I hope that helps some other travelers out there get comfortable! As for me, I am back in Santiago, Chile (SURPRISE! I promise this is not an April Fools joke) and about to head to Easter Island again for a few weeks with another tour group. I’ll try to keep up posting as much as possible but may be MIA for the rest of this week.
There’s been a mass exodus out of Minnesota going on lately. A disturbing number of our close family and friends have moved (or are about to move) out of state this year. Helping all of them pack up their trucks and move out makes me nostalgic for past moves of our own. I’m worried I’m catching a bit of a moving bug. We tend to get antsy after 2-3 years and decide we need to move, you know, just to keep life interesting, and we are quickly approaching that timeline here in Minnesota. But then I remember how fun it really is (i.e. not that much fun) and I can’t help but be happy we don’t have any immediate moving plans of our own.
