The Flight

The Flight

Your carryon should hold your fragile items, electronics, and valuables. Important paperwork, ID, cash, and other items that you will need immediately should be at hand.

At your seat you should bring support items. I had a pillow that was compact and I could fill with air at my seat and lean my face on and put my arms in. Magical! I will link to one like it HERE. My flight was 5hrs with a 2hr layover in Texas and then another 5hrs to London.

Unless you wear a watch regularly, don’t bring one. It isn’t that important just for two flights. Instead prepare yourself to have a dead phone battery. Bring portable batteries! I brought three of them and I could have used an extra (because of all the time I kept having to waste making sure they were all plugged in because I used them up so quickly). Make sure they are as compact and large capacity as possible. You won’t want to carry bulk around every day. Slim charger in your pocket is nothing however!

 Apps. For London I recommend WhatsApp or Kik (if you want to hide your real number) to talk over Wi-Fi for free. To travel City Mapper is perfection, you can search for walking, bus, tube, or Uber routes and times. I would recommend using widgets on your screen to keep track of your HOME time. It is easier than counting every time you want to know; you can check in the same time it would take to check your foreign time. This will also save you during your flight to calculate travel times while crossing time zones.

Don’t bring things specifically for your flight. You will have to drag these items all over your foreign country and unless you will be travelling extensively for your entire trip, don’t coddle yourself. You can survive a flight with your ear buds instead of heavy duty noise cancelling headphones that will be cumbersome and added weight on your way home. Your ear buds may get annoying but you can handle it, I promise.

Tissues. Virtually weightless and for some reason, I swear, everyone’s noses run on planes. These can double as toilet paper as well!

Comfortable clothing (be aware of weather)

Charge everything before you leave!

Bring an empty water bottle (TSA will stop you for carrying liquids but there are loads of places to fill this passed security). Keep hydrated and eat a balanced meal before travelling. It is tempting to eat taco bell as a quick option but it will come back to haunt you mid-flight. You don’t want to be in and out of the toilet with embarrassing issues. Be prepared with Beano, heartburn, or diarrhea medication!

Get up and stretch during flight. Blood clots are a worry even for those of us without circulation problems. I personally wore restriction socks (like diabetics wear) to ward against them because I had a window seat). Sitting for long periods of time can be dangerous, because you risk of DVT (deep vein thrombosis) rises. It isn’t going to hurt anything or anyone for you to do a couple laps around. If you are worried about bothering staff, ask them for a route and best time to accomplish this during flight.

The woman sitting across from me during my flight clearly had circulation problems because she would constantly stand up next to me and stomp her feet… she was in pain! It was horrid.

My flight to the UK and back (and flights while I was there) weren’t bad. I watched movies, tv shows, and such on the flight over.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask any questions in the comments below.

Happy Travels,

Elle

Packing – Before You Leave

Packing

-          Clothing (Weather appropriate, backup shoes, items reusable for different outfits)

-          Electronics (Laptop, Kindle, Tablets, Phones, Chargers, hair dryers, voltage converters, and extra SD cards)

-          Carry on (meds, plugs, electronics, money, etc)

-          Security (locks for luggages, protection for cash/cards from electronic and physical threat)

-          Medication/Prescripton/OTC (ibuprofen/motion sickness meds/etc)

Keep important, fragile, expensive items in your carry on to stow in the overhead. With you in your seat keep your ID, ticket, ear plugs, face mask, sleeping pills, etc. Keep organized. If you can’t remember what is where, keep a list on your phone.

Speaking of your phone, you should keep important numbers, addresses, and information on your phone but also in a bag printed out just in case you have cellular issues abroad! Keep all important paperwork in a folder for easy access. You visa, insurance, etc should be kept together and safe!

Everyone told me to bringing good walking shoes. Don’t automatically run out and buy new shoes that you will have to break in while abroad.

In fact, don’t run out and buy a new wardrobe. You won’t be abroad walking runways. You will be studying and possibly spending time touring the city or areas. Take clothing you feel comfortable in. The tried and try pieces that won’t be itchy, ill fitting, or fail you. Clothing isn’t something you should have to worry about while there. I would avoid purchasing a whole new wardrobe while abroad as well. This would have to be done immediately, it would be immediately extremely expensive, take up a lot of space you will have to account for on your way home and you may not end up liking the clothing forcing you to return it. Keep in mind that you will have to launder this clothing while abroad. This could get expensive. You need space to keep this clothing, you’ll have to wash it weekly and that could be at a laundry mat. If you want to shop while abroad for clothing, bring the bare bones necessities. Jeans, white t-shirt, socks, etc. Then supplement it while you are abroad.

Tip: Weigh the items you bring that you will be returning with. Every time you make purchases I recommend monthly weigh- ins of those items. Airlines typically have weight restrictions on luggage.  You may end up needing to purchase and pay the fees for extra luggage. Or… you may end up having to donate items you can’t bring home before you leave. I’m still gutted that I had to leave my grey blanket. It was only 9 pounds in London but it was glorious.

If you plan on doing a lot of shopping check an empty luggage to use for items, you collect over the course of your trip. You could collect, souvenirs, gifts, clothing, and presents!

Don’t forget to pack electronically. Load music, books, and apps to prepare for travel. The best thing I did before leaving was download the free apps “Whatsapp” and “City Mapper” for London. Invaluable!

I want to push boundaries, be brace, and take chances during my trip but I don’t want the majority of those to be my asking for directions. I took the time to find out my location and map out around the dorm. I wanted to know key information like where I would catch the bus to school from the dorm. I don’t want to depend on wifi once I’m there to know this key detail. The nearest grocery store and the nearest home décor store as well went on my list. With the first couple of days I’m in London I will need to purchase things like sheets, blankets, necessities that weren’t essential to be packed. I want to travel as light as possible! There is also the added benefit of knowing the cities around central London so I know off the top of my head the general area I’ll be in at any given time. Central London is generally known as the west end for example.

I bought a handy recommended guide called London A-Z. This map guide book is spiral bound with an insane amount of detail. I plan to walk about out of curiosity and this little book will be my guide. Rather than rely on my phones GPS to get me the faster route to and from destinations I can take multiple routes without getting lost. Without signal I can look at this book and find the nearest bus station, tube station, or main thoroughfare! It also made an appearance in an episode of BBC’s newest version of Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch. If that doesn’t want to make you buy I don’t know what will.

If you can’t live without a specific face wash, bring it. I didn’t pack any toiletries and I regret this. It would have been empty space in my luggage on the way home. I was sick immediately after arriving and I didn’t have soap, shampoo, meds, body wash… nothing. I had to go out with the flu in an unfamiliar country to buy these things.

You must research what differences there are between what you normally purchase and what will be available. I had no idea the UK didn’t have plastic applicators for tampons. Sorry if this is TMI for you but… cardboard = not great. I got used to it but… those are something I could have brought with me because I had room.

Make sure you leave money to buy all these things when you return because you most likely won’t have space to bring what is left over!

Read on the next post about what to bring with you on the flight

Leave any questions you have for me in the comment section!

Happy Travels,

Elle