Packing for your travels is an art form and can relieve stress that sometimes surrounds trips. That extends to some simple tips for making your flight as enjoyable as possible. Whether you’re in first class, business, or coach, these are the must-haves for a most successful flight that will get your trip off to a perfect start.
Cute Socks
“Cute socks” was a diversion, we’re talking about compression socks and yes, you need them! While you may not have had any issues with Deep Vein Thrombosis, it’s very real and you can avoid it. When you think of compression socks though, you may think of something very institutional and ugly but compression socks have come a long, long way. With styles and patterns and colors that you’ll likely want to wear even when you’re not on a plane, we recommend Sockwell Socks.
Wearing compression socks can help ease your pain and your troubles by improving your blood flow, regardless of whether you’re on your feet too much or too little. The gentle compression from Sockwell Socks helps keep the blood from pooling by promoting circulation back up through the body. This may also help prevent blood clot formation, relieve symptoms of other foot and leg worries, reduce swelling and decrease fatigue.
Travel Journal
Even if you’re not much of a writer or have never written in a journal before, a travel journal will end up being one of the best souvenirs of your trip. What do you write? It can be anything! Write about how you feel as you’re traveling, what you had for breakfast, something funny your flight attendant said, you can write about anything. Fast forward a few months or years after your trip and pull out your journal and you’ll relive that trip and all of the simple details that don’t generally stick in your memory bank and don’t make it into your photos. Having the travel journal with you on your flight will help pass the time and having it with you can help you take a beat, write about what you’re experiencing, and truly enjoy your adventure. Picture yourself sitting in a coffee shop in Europe enjoying a cappuccino and making some notes in your journal about your vacation.
Basic Meds
Getting a headache or having your allergies flare up when you’re flying can really put a damper on your trip. We always recommend that you keep any prescriptions in your carry-on bag in case your luggage takes a different route than you, but having some of those standard medications that you keep in your medicine chest at home. In addition to some aspirin and ibuprofen, you will want to include something for indigestion, perhaps an anti-diarrhea, and maybe even a sleep aid for a long flight.
Be sure to only bring meds with which you have experience because a flight is not a good place to try a new med in case you have an adverse reaction. The key here is to make sure you have your bases covered for your flight as well as your trip. Pro tip: Also keep a copy of your eyeglass or contact lens prescription with you when you travel just in case something happens to your eye wear or maybe you see some glasses you just have to have.
Noise Cancelling Earbuds or Headphones
It can be difficult to relax on a flight if you’re near a loud talker, a fussy child, or even a fussy adult for that matter but there is a solution available in noise-canceling headphones or earbuds. While noise-canceling headphones are excellent for home and office use, we prefer the earbuds for air travel for a couple good reasons: 1. they’re compact and take up very little space in your carry-on, and 2. if you doze off on the plane headphones won’t be in the way. Our pick for the noise-canceling earbuds is from TaoTronics because they perform well and are relatively inexpensive.
Snacks
Airplane food isn’t always satisfying or particularly healthy so consider packing your own snacks in your carry-on for when you’re feeling a bit peckish during your flight. But be smart about it. Don’t bring anything that smells and under any circumstance, do not bring nuts. Do, however, bring some of your favorite crackers, some chocolate, some protein bars, anything that will give you a boost but won’t affect your fellow travelers adversely. Our choice for a protein bar is the salted caramel PowerCrunch bar – it works like a protein bar with 13 grams of protein, but eats like a delicious candy bar.
As you’re packing for your trip, be sure to be smart about how you pack your carry-on luggage and be sure to include our suggestions. Did we miss one that you find to be essential for your carry-on? For more tips on travel, read Travel Chic: Arriving in Style.
