How I survive long haul flights

I've been lucky enough to enjoy some wonderful holidays to far flung destinations, and I like to think I'm a pretty seasoned traveller when it comes to flying long haul. So I thought I'd share some tips for things that have helped me survive a long haul flight and emerge at the end ready for a new adventure, or prepared to get back into the swing of things at home!

Before flying

We try to pre-book seats or check in on time to choose seats together. I like an aisle seat, so I usually have the children next to me by the window. Bulkhead seats are nice for extra legroom, but I'm short and I'm personally not a fan - hand luggage has to go in the overhead compartment, the table and screen are awkwardly positioned, the toilet queue is right beside you, and it's where they keep the noisy babies! 

As soon as I sit in my seat I change my phone clock to the new timezone and sync my watch. I try to get myself in the mindset for the new time, so if it's suddenly evening I imagine being ready to go to sleep.

Finally when packing for peace of mind I always make everyone pop spare underwear and a clean top into hand luggage. You never know when you'll spill a drink down yourself, or whether your suitcase may end up in a different place. 

Daytime flights

I find long daytime flights the hardest. I keep the flight map up on the screen and sometimes it can just go so slowly! 

I download plenty of entertainment to my phone. I only found out recently that you can download videos from YouTube to watch offline! I choose light, easy to watch videos that normally I pass over for something more substantial. There's usually something that I want to watch on the entertainment system, maybe an old film that I've not watched in years or some episodes of a sitcom that I enjoy.

I take plenty of reading material. Mostly it's on my Kindle, but I always make sure to take at least one physical book in case of a Kindle mishap. I'll choose a book that I've been looking forward to reading (making sure that I've read the first few pages and know it's one I'm going to enjoy). A few days before we go away I have a good browse of the Prime Reading Library and free Kindle books to make sure that I've got plenty of options, and I have lots of old favourites in my Kindle library.

I like to take a notepad and pen too, useful if anyone needs to be entertained with some pen and paper games and it's somewhere to jot down random thoughts that come into my head when I'm bored and staring into space!

I pack plenty of snacks, and I try to include things that I don't eat often and are a bit of a treat. Minstrels are good because they don't melt if it's hot, and I like savoury snacks like the little packs from Graze. 

I also try to nap even on a daytime flight. It's not easy when people are going up and down the aisle or the children need something, but it does make the time pass more quickly.

Photo credit Suhyeon Choi via Unsplash

Night flights

For me night flights are all about sleeping, as much as possible. Whether it's because I want to make the most of our first day in a new location or so that I can arrive home and not need to fall straight into bed and make the jet lag worse.

I have an unusual neck pillow which is called a trtl pillow. I'm not sure it's much more comfortable than a classic neck pillow, but it packs down small in my hand luggage and it has a long fleecy scarf which I wrap around almost my whole face. I use it with a black sleep mask and ear plugs, and that combination really does help me to get some sleep.

Before a night flight we try to eat dinner at the airport. For a longer flight I'll wait for the meal on the plane, but for a shorter long haul flight I'll just make sure that the children are comfortable and then I'll tuck myself up for sleep straight away. I don't have an alcoholic drink, it's tempting because I know it would make me feel dozy, but I think I would wake up during the flight feeling worse.

Even if I can't sleep during the flight I try to avoid turning on the screen or a reading light. Luckily night flights on planes are set up for sleeping with disturbances kept to a minimum so I can usually at least doze. It's such a nice feeling to wake up from a sleep on the plane and check the map to see that you are nearly at your destination.

After landing

I make sure that I'm mentally in the new time zone immediately. Even if it feels like the middle of the night I try to stay awake as long as I can, and eat meals at the correct times - sunlight, fresh air and exercise can help to stay awake. If we've landed early morning and I know that I can't manage the whole day awake then I will have a nap early afternoon, but I'll set an alarm and force myself to get up and keep going!

Tips for taking a long haul flight with older children

A few years ago I wrote this post - Flying long haul with two small children. We were lucky enough to fly long haul several times with young children - it was worth it for the experiences we enjoyed but it was hard work! After appreciating how much easier our more recent flights have been now that the children are older (14 and 12) I thought I'd write an update with tips for flying with younger teenagers!

I always make plans in advance around flight times. For example if we have booked a night flight I know that the food may not be served until a couple of hours in. If we eat a good meal at the airport then we can settle down to sleep straightaway. For a daytime flight, if we've had an early start I try to encourage a nap at some point so that we can keep going when we arrive. I always set my watch for the new time zone before we get on the plane and then try and work to that as soon as possible.

We make sure to choose our seats as soon as we can so that we can sit together, and I like to be near a toilet. We try to book a row of seats including an aisle so we can get in and out without disturbing others, and because we book special meals like child or vegetarian we are served first, which means we can nip to the toilet while it's empty because others are still eating!

Photo credit Alexander Schimmeck via Unsplash

Everyone in our family is responsible for their own bag which contains their devices, plenty of snacks, teddies and so on. It's packed in a bag which will fit under the seat in front so that they don't need to disturb me to retrieve things.

For a night flight we pack lots of things to help us be comfortable - a travel pillow, sleep mask, ear plugs and teddies for example. We wear comfy clothes and layers, and when settling down to sleep with a blanket make sure to put the seat belt on over the top so that it can be seen in case of turbulence. When the children are asleep I usually rearrange them carefully and make sure that any loose items like headphones or teddies are well secured!

On that note, as the children get bigger their headphones get smaller, so from experience you need to be extra careful with them as they can easily get lost in the seat! 

I've always found the seat back entertainment on long haul flights very good, with recently released films, television box sets and games as well as the map showing where you are. You can usually check in advance to see what will be showing on your flight which is a good idea as sometimes there is so much to choose from that it can be overwhelming when you are actually sat there.

Finally I now set the expectation that the children are in general responsible for entertaining themselves. They can go to the toilet on their own (although I often end up going too!), they can choose what they would like to drink, they can plan their entertainment and bring along things they might want or need. And if it looks like I'm sleeping then they will have a much happier Mum at the destination if they leave me to it unless there's an emergency!

Using Apple AirTags to track luggage and suitcases when flying

Updated May 2022

When Apple announced the release of the Apple AirTag earlier this year I knew that they were something that we'd be buying. We could imagine all sorts of uses for them! And one of the first things that I thought of was using an AirTag to track your suitcase and other luggage while flying. I would feel much happier sitting on a plane knowing that my suitcase was sitting right underneath me, and if your suitcase does end up going walkabout, as has happened to me in the past, at least you have an idea of where it's ended up.

We've been using the AirTags successfully over the last few months to find our keys inside the house, and also to send out with a child if they are popping down the road. But with Covid it has taken a while for us to be able to actually test them out on a flight!

So on our recent holiday to Rhodes we placed an Apple AirTag inside each of our suitcases to see how well they worked. We put the AirTags in small pockets inside the suitcases, rather than hang them on the outside, as that seemed like the best way to keep them safe. Before we left we made sure that the AirTags could still be located and it worked perfectly. Then after we checked in at Gatwick we waved them off from the bag drop and went on our way through the airport!

When we were waiting at the gate before boarding we loaded up the app and were pleased to see that all three suitcases (tracked across our two phones) had made it to the general vicinity of our plane which was located at the far gate. I'm the blue dot, and so you can see that mine was nice and close to me!

Then when we had landed and disembarked the plane we did another quick check to make sure that our luggage had arrived along with us. Fortunately there had been no mishaps, and the suitcase was there, just outside the terminal building waiting to be moved from the plane. Once we arrived at baggage reclaim we checked again and found that it had made its way into the terminal, so all we had to do was to sit and wait for it to appear on the carousel.

Apparently there is one situation when the Apple AirTags don't work with luggage and that is when the suitcases is moving at a reasonable speed, for example while moving through the airport conveyor system or being transported on a baggage truck. This means that you can't use precision finding to track it to within a few feet. 

However this wasn't a problem for us, because once we knew that the suitcase had made it to our arrival airport we just waited patiently for it at baggage reclaim. Presumably if your suitcase ends up in a different part of the airport by mistake it would be left waiting somewhere, and you could track it properly once it had stopped moving.

As well as being fun to track our luggage it certainly gave us some peace of mind to know that our suitcase was where it was supposed to be during our flight, and I think that we'll definitely be bringing the AirTags along every time we fly!

Update May 2022

We recently made another trip abroad, this time a long haul flight to Mauritius, and once again we took our AirTags along to track three suitcases. It all worked perfectly once more. We were at the gate ready to board and could see that our suitcases were located near the plane, we couldn't see them waiting on the tarmac so were able to confidently assume that they had been loaded!

On arrival it did take a little while to update the location of our bags, but by the time we had walked through the airport and reached the baggage reclaim the tracking had updated to confirm that our bags had made it to the same airport as us. 

We place our AirTags within the suitcase in a zipped inside pocket. There are devices available that you can use to attach your AirTag to the outside of the suitcase but I think that these are unnecessary as they leave the AirTags vulnerable to loss, damage or theft.