This is how you sleep well during a long flight
Imagine you have the wonderful plan to take a long trip, for example to Bali, New York, or Australia. You have a whole list of things you want to do there, where you want to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, swim, sunbathe, and museums you want to visit. The last thing you want is to arrive completely exhausted with a jetlag from here to Tokyo.
These are the most important tips for sleeping well on the plane, so you can start your vacation without sleep deprivation.
- Choose a window seat. The best thing about a window seat is that you have a whole wall at your disposal to lean against. With a middle seat or aisle seat, you have to consider the people next to you or the passing flight attendants, but at the window, you have extra space and can comfortably lean against your pillow.
- Bring extra socks with you. Especially for the plane, I always bring extra soft, warm, comfortable socks. As soon as I sit down, I take off my shoes and change my socks for the fresh and soft ones. Not only are you happy with that, but your fellow travelers will be too.
- Wear a relaxed outfit. It's really fun to parade fashionably through the airport, but once on the plane, you'll regret wearing tight pants. Changing in the tiny restroom is also a horrible and almost impossible plan. Just wear a nice outfit that you would also curl up in on the couch at home; that's really the best idea.
- Noise cancelling headphones: the holy grail. If there's anything that makes me happy on the plane, it's my noise cancelling AirPods. Not only because they turn off the constant hum of the airplane engines for you, but also because I can get really annoyed by the eating sounds of others. It really reduces a lot of irritation if you can turn that off, making it much easier to fall asleep.
- WINE. I have one very important rule when I'm going on a long trip: as soon as I'm on the plane, I can have a glass of red wine. Somehow, that feels like a very festive start to the journey, but it also helps me immediately get into a sort of sleep mode. Of course, you also need to drink enough water. Drinking enough water also helps against jetlag.
If you really can't sleep? Then just make it something cozy for yourself. Make a list of all the movies you want to watch on the way, order an extra drink, and have nice chats with your fellow travelers during dinner time. The full experience of the trip itself always gives me a sort of anticipation.
