Avoiding Travel Stress

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I wanted to write today about how to reduce your stress when traveling. I travel quite a bit, and often I am traveling overseas to Indonesia. I’ve come up with a few tips to make the whole process of getting flights and getting to the location a little bit easier especially for very long plane trips.

The first thing I would recommend is, when you know you’re going to be traveling, to look at sidestep.com. This is a really helpful site for finding cheap flights. It will look at all of the carrier’s, at Orbits, Hotwire and all the different discount air carriers. You can also set it up so that the site will e-mail you if rates change. One of the thing that people who fly a lot know is that rates can change throughout the day, and rates tend to be lower if you are looking in the middle of the week. Rates change all the time and you can get a much cheaper flights if you look on different days of the week. It’s nice to have Sidestep e-mail you when those changes happen so that you can go in book, especially when you have a good deal of time before you need to travel, and/or flexible travel dates. Some other good sites when you are traveling overseas are Vayama.com and Zuji.com.

Once you have found your flight you want to think about packing and getting there. One of the things that I have learned is that you need to pack your carry on bag as if your checked baggage is not going to get there. I always have everything I need for the first day or two already in my carry-on bag. I bring a change of clothes and all of the toiletries that I need of the next couple of days. Quite often when traveling even domestically my checked baggage will not get there at all or will not get there until the following day, so I want to be able to enjoy my vacation or travel comfortably while waiting for my checked baggage to arrive.

The things that I’ve found to make long flights more bearable are first of all books on tape. I have a really hard time sleeping on planes but if I have a book on tape, even if it’s not a good book on tape, it will help my fall asleep or at least rest. I will usually go to a discount bookstore and buy a very cheap book on tape. I don’t really care what it is because mostly it’s going to help me fall asleep. Another thing that’s really helpful that goes along with the book on tape, are noise canceling headphones. I tend to get slightly motion sick when traveling, and I’ve noticed in the plane the main thing that bothers me is the sound of the jet that gives me a headache. Noise canceling headphones really helped me feel more comfortable on the plane and I will keep them on even when I’m not listening to a book on tape. You can also use the headphones to plug into the TV and movies that are being shown on the plane.

Another thing that I bring is a large plastic water bottle that I can refill at every layover. You need to have the bottle empty when you walk through security but once you get through security can find a water fountain and fill it up. They recommend that you don’t drink water on the plane that isn’t bottled as it’s not supposed to be the cleanest water. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I tend to bring a large water bottle because I don’t always want to wait for the flight attendants to come around with drinks.

I also tend to bring a lot of snacks. Even on the few planes that do still feed, you never know if you’re going to get stuck sitting on the tarmac without food. One of things that will make the most uncomfortable to feel hungry and I can’t get anything to eat because I’m stuck on the plane. Even if we are stranded in the airport, I tend and make very bad food decisions in airports. I tend think that the Cinnabon is a good idea when I know it’s not. If I have a granola bar or dried fruit in my bag, I will tend to eat that first before I go for some junk that’s in the airport.

Other things that I bring on the plane are a lotion. I put lotion on my face (especially around your nostrils) and on my hands frequently when on the plane, especially when it’s a fourteen hour flight. I also have of a stretching routine from the Anderson “Stretching” book which I have mentioned earlier on this blog. There are routines in the back that are just pictures that you can print out and take with you. I will do the are arm stretching exercises, and sometimes I can do the legs stretching exercises if there is enough room on the plane (I am short). This also gives me something to do on the plane and in it makes me feel much better when I get off of the plane.

Doing these few little things really does help me feel better when I get to the location as well. You want to make sure that you’re eating well while you’re on the plane, drink a lot of water, keep your skin hydrated with lotion, carry breath mints and a little toothbrush with toothpaste. A lot of good airlines will give you a toothbrush and toothpaste on the plane. The first thing you want when you get off of a 14-15 hour flight is to brush your teeth. Also I really like the eye covers that are provided on a lot of a international airlines. These airlines will give you a little pocket, with covers for your eyes, toothbrush/toothpaste, and/or socks. I almost always bring heavy socks and a little fleece blanket. International flights tend to be freezing at all times of the year. If I am going to try to sleep I need to be warm. The blankets provided on the plane are small and it’s nice to have a second blanked. You can always use one as an extra pillow as well. These are my suggestions for tolerating and reducing your stress when traveling. Take care of yourself today and thank you for your time