long haul flight – Our Two Step Start

Flying long haul can be scary, especially when you have never done this before. It’s such a different experience to flying locally. The plane is larger, you get food, and special amenities including a screen to watch movies, shows and play games! But where do you start and what’s the best tips and tricks for the flight?

As some of you may know, we had an amazing trip to Thailand at the end of August ’24, and therefore had a long haul flight recently. We thought there is no better way to share our experience than to write a blog so you can see all the little tips to use as well.

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7 Top Tips and Tricks for long-haul flights

So let’s dig in!

Wear comfortable clothing

Comfortable clothing is a NECESSITY when traveling on a long haul flight. A simple yet effective outfit like joggers and a baggy top would be perfect. The last thing you want to is constantly toss and turn trying to be comfortable. Or even worse – have to try change in one of those tiny bathrooms that you can barely go toilet. A hoodie would be prefect for this situation, a great multi-use item that can keep you warm but also act as a makeshift blanket or pillow if you need it.

However, if you are looking to take a hoodie be aware that this is something you will need to carry on the duration of your trip. So if you don’t have space in your luggage for it, you might need to compromise.

Bring Snacks

Now, as budget travelers, we always look to find ways to cut down on costs but also to have the top experiences we can. So unless you want to spend £4 for a chocolate bar you wouldn’t normally choose when you are home, then make sure to be prepared. We look to bring our own foods to the airport to avoid the prices and this is the same for the flight. Usually we pack rolls/baguettes for the airport AND for the plane ride with some additional sweets/snacks. However, you can’t just pack your whole bag full of snacks and food otherwise you won’t have all the other important things for your trip. We would recommend bring a meal deal or a roll as a snack between meals, as well as some sweets of your choice.

After all, you will be sitting for a large amount of time and likely to get bored, so hunger will strike.

Small Carry on Bag

Now this seems counter-intuitive as you’ve just been told to pack snacks and food alongside the important items in your bag. But you need your bag small enough to save yourself a lot of time and effort during the flight. Picture this, you pack your bag and it doesn’t fit under your seat. That’s fine, you just pop it in the overhead compartment and it’s out the way. Time to kick back and relax right?

What if you want snacks?

Or your phone runs out?

Or you realise there’s something in your bag that you need? Like a toothbrush as after all, it is a long haul flight.

It could be anything and you don’t want to keep jumping up and down to grab it as it will become annoying for you and your fellow travelers.

So the solution?

Find a bag that has good space but is also perfect to slide under your seat with still having a decent amount of leg room. This will allow for sure an easy grab for any unexpected issues or objects that you need to get from your bag.

Have your charger in your carry-on

If you never have been on a long haul flight before, then you may not know that the screens you have for entertainment also include a charging port and a headphone port for you. This is super important as you are likely to run out of charge on your device so make sure to pack your charger in a convenient spot.

The last thing you want to do is realise it is right at the bottom of the bag and have to pull EVERYTHING out to just to reach it, or worse! Put your charger in the holder so you have no charger during the whole flight. No one wants that problem.

Get up and walk around

It’s very easy to just sit in your seat and sleep, eat and watch your way through the flight but your body won’t be happy after it. You are likely to be very achy or tired by the end of the flight or maybe even light headed. You have to think, there’s not many times in your life where you are sat down in the same position for longer than 8 or so hours. Yes, we have sleep but that is usually in a more comfortable position than you one you will be in during a flight. It is recommended to get up and stretch every 2 or so hours.

However, we would recommend to not only do this, but walk up and back down the aisle once or twice to stretch your legs and get the blood flowing. This will help your body regulate and keep yourself from getting stiff.

Remember, after a long haul flight you will likely have after affects from jet lag so the last thing you want to do is add to that by making your body achy and stiff.

Plan your flight

Now this isn’t planning it to the minute. You don’t have to schedule each activity during the flight and keep to time constraints. That isn’t what we are saying. However, you will have 8+ hours worth of travel time with not a lot to do. So, how can you fill this time?

We would recommend to have multiple ideas of ways to keep you busy during this time. We have even seen people take Nintendo switch as a good activity which would definitely kill a few hours on the flight. However, you will soon get bored so what else is there to do. We would recommend having 2/3 other options on top of what they provide on the flight.

They provide great entertainment with many new and classic films, popular TV Shows, and music and even some pretty cool games with who wants to be a millionaire and popular games like battleships being available. For us, a great way to enjoy the first 30/60 minutes is to scroll through to see what they have to offer and pick out a few films/shows you will want to watch during the flight. We also do this with the games, have a little scroll and find games that will occupy us during the flight.

We would recommend to have a pack of cards, or a travel game to bring that is small as well as some games on your phone. But be sure that they are games that work offline as you won’t have any internet connection during the flight. Also include some sort of chilled activity like a book or E-book that you can read or a diary/journal that can occupy you.

Having these vast options will give you the option to change when you are bored and not run out of things to do. And worse case, you can just go sleep for a few hours to kill time!

Dietary requirements

Now this may not be important to everyone, but if you have any allergens or dietary needs such as being vegetarian, then make sure to communicate this. This is done BEFORE your flight and is necessary to put the steps in place to avoid any problems during this flight.

If you have an allergy with peanuts for example, it is a MUST to let them know beforehand. They will make an announcement during the flight that passengers are not to open any packets of peanuts during the flight. They will also make sure that the meals provided don’t include any peanuts. This will save any last minute conversations and problems during the flight.

For dietary requirements, such as being veggie, they usually take your meal orders when you book so that they can allocate enough to bring on board before the flight. The last thing you would want is for meal time to come around and there are no veggie options available because you didn’t let them know ahead of time. They will have a list of all those who have requested dietary specific requirements which likely means you will get your meals before the rest of the passengers which is a little bonus if you are super hungry.

These are super important to know so you don’t run into any problems during the flight and so you can enjoy your experience before heading off on your backpacking journey. These tips and trick will guide you through a smooth ride and allow you to make the most of your time in the sky.

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As mentioned above, we are soon to be heading to Thailand so we will be using this tips ourselves! But also, look out for some amazing Thailand Vlogs, Blogs and much much more on our socials which is linked below.

See our Long-Haul Experience!

We recently uploaded our full travel vlog for our flight with Gulf Air to Thailand! So, if you want to see how a long-haul flight works out, then check out our vlog!

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Tag: long haul flight

7 Top Tips and Tricks for a long-haul flight you MUST know