You've Been Flying Economy Long Haul Flights ALL WRONG! Here's What the Pros Know...

Tired of arriving at your destination feeling like a human pretzel? In this game-changing episode, veteran travel experts reveal their closely-guarded secrets for surviving long-haul flights in economy. From unconventional hacks to insider tips on snacks, discover why everything you thought you knew about flying economy is wrong. Plus, learn the controversial $30 travel accessory that's revolutionizing how seasoned travelers handle 12+ hour flights. Whether you're flying to Tokyo or trekking to Sydney, these pro tips will transform your next economy experience from survival mode to actually enjoyable. Your future self will thank you for listening to this one.

Transcript

You've Been Flying Economy Long Haul Flights ALL WRONG! Here's What the Pros Know...

Nicky Omohundro: Welcome to Untethered and Wanderwise, the podcast that helps mature women travel smarter, not harder. I'm Nicky Omohundro.

Heide Brandes: I'm Heidi Brandes. Today we're tackling a topic that affects every international traveler, surviving those long haul flights and economy class. Because, you know, let's face it ladies, not all of us are flying business class to Bali.

Nicky Omohundro: Definitely not. It's nice, but.... 

Heide Brandes: after my recent 17 hour flight to Madeira, I have some fresh tips to share. But first, Nicky, let's talk about why long haul flights can be particularly challenging for women our age.

Nicky Omohundro: Oh, absolutely. So as we get older, circulation becomes more of an issue. Joints can get stiff and let's not even talk about how plane air affects our skin, which is exactly why preparation is key. Let's break this down into three main categories. Why don't we? First the flight, during the flight, and maintaining your health throughout.

Heide Brandes: Perfect. Should we start with choosing the right seat? Because that can really make or break your entire experience.

Nicky Omohundro: Ladies, here's our first pro tip for you. Book your seats as early as possible. And if you can spring for it, pay for seat selection. The best economy seats for comfort are either exit row or bulkhead seats for much needed extra leg.

Heide Brandes: But if those aren't available, I always recommend an aisle seat, especially for those long flights over eight hours. It gives you the freedom to get up, and move around, and go to the bathroom without climbing over your passengers. I'm a window seat kind of girl, but only on domestic flights. So if there's a flight over six hours, I definitely get the aisle seat.

Nicky Omohundro: I'm the exact same way. I like the window for domestic, the aisle for anything over eight hours. So speaking of movement, let's talk about what to wear. This isn't the time for cute tight jeans

Heide Brandes: No, it's not. Fashion takes a back seat to comfort on long flights. And I've got the perfect travel outfit formula. You want to go with loose layers in natural soft fabrics. Think about cotton plazo pants or those loose yoga pants, a soft t- shirt. And then a warm wrap or a cardigan and slip on shoes. That way you can take them off. 

You definitely want to wear your socks on the airplane because, you know, airplane floors are kind of gross, but my go to outfit is black yoga pants, a black tank top and a colorful cardigan.

Nicky Omohundro: And that's a super cute outfit for me. I like a pair of wool leggings, a long sleeve wool t- shirt, some type of a cardigan as well, and wool socks. 

So, and speaking of socks, compression socks are your friend. They're not just for your mothers anymore. You know, they're not these horrid,

Heide Brandes: clunky, ugly things.

Nicky Omohundro: yeah, nasty looking things. They come in so many different colors, designs, and they're actually kind of cool. I've got a new pair of purple and gray striped alpaca compression socks that I absolutely love to travel with. So they make such a difference in preventing swollen ankles and reducing the risk of blood clots from 

Heide Brandes: flying.

Yeah, that's always a big concern, especially on those long haul flights. But, now let's talk about what to pack in your carry on for maximum comfort. 

Nicky Omohundro: My must haves include a really good neck pillow. I would suggest investing in one with memory foam. The one that I bought actually compresses really well.

Heide Brandes: Yeah, the one I have is called a Turtle Travel Pillow. And it kind of has a hard thing that supports your neck and has a soft wrap that connects it by wrapping around your neck. And I swear to God, of all the travel pillows I've had, the turtle is the one I like the best.

Nicky Omohundro: I'll love my memory foam travel pillow because it actually is higher than most. It comes right below my ear lobe. So it accommodates my noise canceling head over-the-ear headphones, but it doesn't give my neck a whole lot of room. And here I am demonstrating as I'm talking. of mobility that I have with this pillow. It's fantastic.

Heide Brandes: A large soft scarf can also double as a blanket or a pillow. You can kind of bunch it up and give you that added support too. But, you can get pretty cold on flight. So, an extra long, soft scarf really helps.

Nicky Omohundro: it does and an eye mask. I like to travel with one that silk. So it's really easy on the eyes because there's always some type of a light on a long haul flight, whether it's the illuminated icons at the top, if God forbid you're sitting next to the rest room with constant light, it really helps block out the light and get a good night's sleep.

[00:05:00]  Heide Brandes: Speaking of that, noise canceling headphones or really good earplugs. I am a huge believer in earplugs and I use a brand called Happy Ears, which is made from reclaimed ocean plastic. And they're real small, but once you put them in your ears, The world disappears and that's really helpful if, God bless, you got a crying baby near you or, you know, rowdy kids or that really loud guy that won't shut up for eight hours.

Nicky Omohundro: I travel with over the ear Bose headphones 

and their noise canceling, so it knocks out everything. And if I don't, I just, if I don't want to listen to music or put those on, I actually just have the soft foam earplugs and I've actually used both at the same time for crying

Heide Brandes: Oh, yeah.

Nicky Omohundro: So the next thing on my list is a face mist and a moisturizer, because there's nothing worse than drying your face out while flying.

Heide Brandes: And after you've been sleeping in a weird position on an airplane all night and the dry air, I mean, it feels like heaven when you put that stuff on. Speaking of making your face feel good, lip balm. My lips get so dry on airplanes and, I like just plain old Vaseline lip balm, but it can really make a difference.

Nicky Omohundro: I'm using one right now. We're going into the holiday season. It's gingerbread flavored from EcoLips.

Heide Brandes: Ooh, ooh, nice.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes. I'm delightful to kiss. Evidently. I don't know. Uh, the next thing on my list is a hand sanitizer and wet wipes. I just carry a very small spray bottle of hand sanitizer. I like that better than the gel, the gel for me.

It's the viscosity just drives me nuts. that's what I 

Heide Brandes: use.

And wet wipes are your friends. I never leave for a trip without a packet of wet wipes, that's especially the kind that can double as makeup remover or face cleaner. After a long haul flight, you can use that to clean your face, your neck, under your armpits. It makes you feel fresh to have wet wipes.

And sometimes you go to places where hand washing. Is a little difficult. So having hand sanitizer and those wet wipes can help keep you safe.

Nicky Omohundro: I have actually traveled too with a full body wet wipe. It's called a body wipe. It's geared more towards like you're going camping. It's, a little bit bigger, takes a little bit more room, but it's like a bath in a bag. It's fantastic.

Heide Brandes: Don't forget to pack healthy snacks. Airplane food isn't always the best. I mean, it's not bad. You get better food on international long haul flights But it's important to keep your blood sugar stable when you're flying. So I always bring for instance Unsalted nuts because you don't want that salt bloat.

I like to bring fresh fruit like apples and oranges But that could be a little tricky if you're not allowed to bring fresh fruit into another country.

So you gotta eat it on the plane protein bars are my go to and Also like popcorn, you know those little popcorn bags

Nicky Omohundro: And then too, I also like to take some herbal tea bags. Cause I never know what type of tea is going to be in the airplane. so I like a good chamomile or like a sleepy time tea from Trader Joe's. It also helps me sleep.

Heide Brandes: Yeah, and that's really important when you're talking about staying healthy during the flight, which is crucial at our age group, because hydration, hydration, hydration is key. Bring an empty water bottle through security and fill it up before you board. I like to bring like a, at least a 24 ounce, if not a 30, 32, 36 ounce bottle with me and try to drink at least eight ounces of water every couple of hours And luckily, the flight attendants do come around on a regular basis with little cups of water So never pass up on the water.

Nicky Omohundro: Skip the alcohol and caffeine. Yeah. So it's also advised that you skip the alcohol and the caffeine. Um, this is one that I have a really hard time with. I know that free wine is tempting and I will usually partake, but it does lead to dehydration. and that can actually disrupt your sleep and create some other issues. So for this one, it's really a personal preference, but if you can avoid the caffeine and the alcohol.

Heide Brandes: Yeah, and speaking of sleep, uh, we should share our tips for actually getting some rest on these flights.

Nicky Omohundro: it's just going to be a fun one. So because we all know how bad jet lag hits harder these days, first tip, try and book flights that align with your destination's time zone. If you're landing in the morning, try to sleep on the plane. Um, my trick is NyQuil capsules.

Yeah, I'm not even going to lie.

Heide Brandes: yeah, my trick is to figure out when I'm gonna land. If I land in the evening, then I'll try not to sleep several hours before we land. So that way I'm sleepy and can kind of reset my body clock. If I land in the morning, then yeah, I'm going to sleep the entire time on the plane. For me, a good old fashioned Benadryl will knock me clean out.

[00:10:00]  So, you know, another tip is to start adjusting your sleep schedule a few days before your long haul flight. Uh, you can always download some meditation apps or sleep stories to your phone. They really help. And some of these airplanes have a meditation channel offered. Through their entertainment.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes. I use that the other day when I flew to Mexico, definitely not a long haul flight is only about a four hour flight, but they did have it. I downloaded the calm app years ago and I actually use that to sleep at home. And so I know that my brain automatically realizes, Oh, we have brown noise going. It's time to go to sleep. And it puts me out like a light.

Heide Brandes: Nice

Nicky Omohundro: And don't forget exercise. So when you're not sleeping, I like to do discreet exercises every couple of hours, rolling your ankles side to side each way while I'm seated, calf raises while waiting for the bathroom, shoulder rolls, knee lifts when I'm seated, standing and stretching whenever possible.

Heide Brandes: Those bathroom line stretches are essential. Don't feel self conscious about it. Your health is more important than what strangers think. And every time I get up to go to the bathroom, I'll do that. I'll like bend over and touch my toes and stretch from side to side. Reach up and everybody's doing it.

So strangers really don't care what you're doing back there. I want to go running a sprint down the aisle, but definitely try to get some stretches in every time you get up.

Nicky Omohundro: Who knows, it may become a group stretch class at the back of the plane. So let's talk about arrival. We all want to feel and look human when we land.

Heide Brandes: Oh yeah. And about an hour before landing, I always do a quick freshen up with my face wipes. I apply my moisturizer. I change into fresh socks. I brush my teeth, using my bottled water in the bathroom. And, I'll put on, you know, freshen up my makeup if I'm, if I need to.

Nicky Omohundro: Do you usually travel with makeup on when you have a long  haul flight? I'm curious, because I don't,

Heide Brandes: use, I use moisturizer and Usually I have makeup on when I board the flight. If it's an overnight flight, before I sleep, I'll use my makeup wipes to take it off and just put on moisturizer. And that way I don't have raccoon eyes when I wake up.

Nicky Omohundro: My trip to Finland, I completely looked like raccoon eyes. And oh, it was a mess. I was like, ever since then, I usually don't fly with a lot of makeup on.

 So now once the plane lands, you shouldn't rush to get up and get off the plane. That always kind of bugs me. Everyone just jumps up and then you're at the, you know, back in the plane, just kind of waiting for everyone else.

Heide Brandes: Yeah.

Nicky Omohundro: I like to let the crowds go while I do my final stretches, kind of let my body completely wake up.

Heide Brandes: Yeah, and those are fantastic tips. Also, you don't want to get caught up in that stress of trying to get the bags out and get into line and rush off the plane. And everybody wants to get off the plane at that point, but you've landed, go ahead and let everybody else stress out. You take your time getting off that plane.

Nicky Omohundro: So if you checked a bag, if you were the first one off the plane, guess what? You're going to be first one at the baggage carousel, waiting for your bag, where if you just wait, let people pass you by when you get there, it'll be there. easier and a lot less stressful.

Heide Brandes: those are all fantastic tips, Nicky. So any final thoughts for our listeners about surviving a long haul flight?

Nicky Omohundro: Always. Remember ladies, long haul flights are a means to an end, even in economy class. They might not be the most comfortable experience, but with these tips, you can arrive at your destination ready to explore and most importantly, enjoy your trip.

Heide Brandes: And remember to move whenever you can. Stay hydrated, stay hydrated, stay hydrated, and don't be afraid to ask flight attendants for help if you need it.

Nicky Omohundro: Yes. So that's all for today's episode of Untethered and Wanderwise.

Heide Brandes: until next time, keep traveling, stay comfortable. And remember age is just a number when it comes to exploring the world.

Nicky Omohundro: You can find links to all the products we mentioned in the show notes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review until next time.