We’re sharing how to survive a long haul flight, long haul flight essentials to pack, what to wear on a long-haul flight, and general long haul flight tips to make it just a little more comfortable.

We’ve had travel days lasting over 35 hours to get to some destinations and many flights that went 8-18 hours in one leg so we’ve seen the worst of the worst and learned a few things along the way.

These tips can even be used even for domestic flights that only last a few hours because planes are uncomfortable no matter how long you’re on it. (ask us how to get our hack for how to get upgraded for free)

Long-Haul Flight Tips:

• What to do before the flight
• What to wear on the flight
• How to get better service from the flight crew
• Flight etiquette 
• Things to do on the plane – entertainment, stretching, eating, drinking

What to pack in your personal bag:

• Entertainment
• Snacks and drinks (so important!)
• Toiletries
• Medicine
• Extra clothes & underwear
• Things you need to make the flight more comfortable

Long Haul Flight Essentials – Episode Transcript

2 (53s):
Hello, fellow travelers. Welcome to this weeks episode of the Travel Squad Podcast.

4 (59s):
Today, we’re going to be sharing some tips with you on How to Survive a Long Haul Flight.

1 (1m 4s):
Who else? Dreads, a long flight stuck in a tiny seat.

4 (1m 8s):
I know

1 (1m 9s):
From fart smells to people with BDO, to people falling asleep on your shoulder. Kim, some people have no regard for airplane etiquette,

3 (1m 19s):
So you can upgrade to business class, or you can use R O G Travel Squad tips to survive in a economy because you know, we aren’t paying to splurge for the upgrades.

1 (1m 31s):
So let’s start with before the flight,

4 (1m 33s):
This tip is one, you guys taught me and we were on a trip to Vegas, and that is to set an alarm on your phone so that you can check in right when it becomes available. Pro-tip

3 (1m 45s):
It always amazes me, you know, because even for Southwest, you know, when I fly with Jamal and Brittany and we all have our alarm set and we hit go at the exact same time to check in, and then Jamal and Brittany are 10 seats ahead of me. And I’m like, how did that happen? How are you 10 seats ahead of me? And we hit go at the same time.

2 (2m 1s):
Got the magic fingers,

3 (2m 2s):
I guess, I guess so, man, there’s a lot of people on that flight get in early. Yeah.

1 (2m 6s):
And before you go, don’t eat any risky food the night before you don’t want to be miserable in your seat. If you’re surviving a long haul flight,

3 (2m 13s):
Especially if you get the window seat Sucks for the people you got to crawl over.

4 (2m 21s):
Also, if you’re traveling with a group, just try to finagle your way into getting seats next to each other. I’ve found that when you book your tickets together, instead of separate, you’re more likely to be put together. Even when you don’t pay to pick your seats, you can also kind of finesse the other passengers and try to get some seat swaps going on.

1 (2m 40s):
Has that happened to you where you’ve been able to swap a seat? Yeah,

4 (2m 43s):
We did it successfully. When we went on our flight from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale on our way to Cuba.

3 (2m 48s):
Yeah. The way that we do it, when we’re on Southwest, since you can’t choose your flight is like, there’s always the two people who will get ahead of you. If you weren’t like altogether on them, you know, they take up two rows and then just put our stuff there, the aisle, and then the other two come on. And we get those seats. Yeah.

2 (3m 3s):
But on top of that too, I mean a lot of international flights, more for the long calls that we were talking about, some airlines actually charge you in that moment when you’re purchasing your ticket for like $15 more to be able to purchase your seats. But I know some airlines such as British airways, Delta, at least in the past, when we’ve utilized them, they allow you to pick your seats in that moment at no additional charge. So it’s really, they’ll give you a full layout of the plane and just kind of decide, do you want to be by the bathrooms for convenience, but at the same time, if you’re by the bathrooms, people are going to be congregating there waiting in line. Do you want an window seat? Because you like the view, but if you’re not traveling with anybody, are you going to have to crawl over people when you need to go?

2 (3m 48s):
So you just need to figure out what you’re comfortable with and where the best spot is for you to sit on the plane, if you can actually pick your seat.

3 (3m 55s):
Okay. So I know that we love gate one, guys, how much do we love gate one? But there’s one thing that always gets me super sad is that when you book your trip, they don’t allow you to choose your seat. So you don’t get to choose your seat until you get to the airport and you don’t even really get to like quote unquote, choose because it’s pretty much full. And then you’re wherever they stick. You.

2 (4m 17s):
That’s true. I won’t disagree with that, but this time we didn’t have that issue. Yes, they picked for us. But this time now I actually have my Delta sky miles account and I gave it to gate one when we ordered. So they chose the seats for me. But since I have an active account, I was able to log into it and switch seats to where I want. So Brittany and I got to pick our seats, actually this time don’t approach it from that. Like, if you actually go through guided tour as a hypothetical and they pick out your seats for you, find out what airline you’re going to be on, sign up for their reward program and tie your reservation to it. You may be able to, and I know Delta for sure, because we flew that last time, but you may be able to log on and actually change your seats, which Brittany and I did.

1 (5m 3s):
And for both of our long haul flight, the plane configuration with a 2, 4, 2, and Jamal and I were just the

4 (5m 10s):
Best of both worlds window and aisle. Yes. The two best suits.

2 (5m 14s):
Yeah. And then, you know, if you’re traveling with people that, you know, it’s not a big deal to kind of crawl over them or if you have to wake them up, I mean, it still sucks if they’re sleeping, but if they’re strangers, you almost feel a little bit more bad about us. So that’s why I like the two for two, but not always, are we fortunate enough to be traveling in that type of situation?

4 (5m 32s):
Yeah. I’ve definitely held my P on a plane many times because I didn’t want to wake up the person next to me.

2 (5m 38s):
That’s very courteous of you.

4 (5m 40s):
Yeah. But it sucks.

2 (5m 42s):
So like we were saying, be mindful of where you select your seats. You know, if you liked the window or somewhere, you going to have to crawl over somebody, if you’re not traveling with people that you know or see by them.

3 (5m 52s):
So what do you wear on these flights guys?

1 (5m 54s):
I think we can all agree that all three of us girls probably wear a form of yoga pants,

4 (5m 58s):
Pants, yoga

3 (5m 59s):
Pants.

2 (6m 0s):
I want to wear something as comfortable as possible, especially if you’re going to be on a long flight. I mean, I know the longest flight I’ve been on is 16 and a half hours. That’s continuous, but

4 (6m 11s):
I want to be comfortable.

2 (6m 12s):
Right. So you ladies are fortunate enough to have yoga pants, workout, pants, whatever. I can’t travel that way.

3 (6m 21s):
Bike shorts.

2 (6m 25s):
That’s so trashy.

4 (6m 26s):
Yeah. That’s what I was going to say. We wear yoga pants. Dana has a lot of colorful pants, but usually I just stick to

1 (6m 33s):
Black. Me too. I

4 (6m 34s):
Try to keep it looking good. I would never, ever be caught dead wearing pajamas on the plane. Like flannel pair of pajamas. Just walking up into the airport. No.

2 (6m 44s):
Yeah. I mean, you could be comfortable still, but keeping it classy and not saying you need to dress up to be on a plane, but definitely don’t scrub it. Like you’re on a plane, people around you, like

4 (6m 58s):
For free, you need to look nice.

1 (6m 59s):
Exactly.

2 (7m 0s):
So for me, since you guys have the yoga pants, I mean, if it’s a shorter flight, I’ll wear shorts, but obviously we know planes tend to get called on there. So I’ll wear not like really, really baggy pants, but I’ll wear like one of my pair of jeans that I know is a little bit more like loose fitting, not as tight that way. I have a little bit more comfort move around for it. And things like that. Just to kind of keep comfortable,

3 (7m 22s):
Speaking of getting cold, make sure you bring a light jacket.

1 (7m 26s):
I always bring a sweater or a cardigan on the plane because I get cold.

3 (7m 29s):
Tell ya, oh, you know, I just thought of this, but do you remember Brittany? When we were in the, it was an airport. I know

1 (7m 36s):
Florida.

3 (7m 37s):
I know. Oh my gosh, the airport was so cold. You guys, it was so fucking cold. And I keep looking at Brittany like, oh, it’s so cold. It’s so cold. And then finally, Yes, that’s where it was. And finally I realized that, oh, I never checked my bag. And I have all these sweaters with me. And so I opened up my bag and I gave Brittany a sweater and I had a sweater myself.

1 (7m 56s):
Thank

3 (7m 56s):
You. Yeah.

2 (7m 58s):
You were sitting there for about two, three hours before you realized that. Because we had,

3 (8m 4s):
Cause

2 (8m 4s):
We were flying home after a cruise, so it’s not like we just chose to get to the airport earlier or anything like that. You know? Like your cruise is done, you have your flight and we didn’t rent a car because we were on a cruise. So we got there early. And I remember you were complaining about being cold the whole time. And none of us really thought like, oh, we have our luggage and it took you like three hours to finally realize like, oh I got my sweater.

3 (8m 26s):
Yeah. So make sure you’re dressed appropriately for the airport because that’s important too. And finally make sure you have comfy undies, granny panties, no panties or microfiber, thongs,

1 (8m 40s):
Whatever your preference.

3 (8m 41s):
You were.

4 (8m 42s):
Some of us like to wear granny panties.

1 (8m 45s):
That’s me. I’m like not going to even deny it. I wear granny panties. If I am doing a long haul flight and long haul, meaning more than like 12 hours, I would say I’m definitely going to wear granny panties because in this last trip, our travel stents were 24 hours. Each like with all of our flights, that’s gross.

3 (9m 5s):
I saw a meme and it was like, does anyone else pack underwear for trips? Like they’re going to shit themselves twice a day. Yes I do.

1 (9m 15s):
So I usually wear granny panties and then I’ll usually put like a pantyliner down and then I’ll change it. Like Zenith

4 (9m 23s):
Midway through midway,

1 (9m 25s):
Shut up, freshen up. Cause you know, I don’t want to be gross and dirty like that.

4 (9m 30s):
I like to wear the microfiber thongs. Cause you don’t feel like it’s up your butt. Just chilling there. It’s nice and comfy and soft. And then I usually do bring like another one to change into, at least when I land, I like have that ready to freshen up real quick.

3 (9m 43s):
It’s always nice to bring a toothbrush and toothpaste with you on there as well. Cause after a long flight, it’s a little grimy.

1 (9m 51s):
And then for shoes, I mean you can wear whatever shoes you want. I never wear flip flops because my feet get really cold. But I typically wear the biggest shoes that I planned to bring on the trip. And that helps me save space in my luggage as well. Anyone else do that?

3 (10m 4s):
Yep.

4 (10m 5s):
I do that if they don’t fit and that tends to happen when you overpack.

2 (10m 10s):
Well I know for you Brittany, like sometimes you’ll wear your boots and things like that because

4 (10m 15s):
A lot of spin.

1 (10m 16s):
Yeah. Just bring it on playing with

2 (10m 18s):
You. So definitely long haul flights. You want to be comfortable choose. What’s going to make you the most comfortable without really slumming it up. Let’s put it that way.

3 (10m 27s):
So we’re talking about what to wear now. What do you pack in your carry on stuff?

2 (10m 33s):
This is essential. So you guys were talking about the type of underwear you wear. Kim said she brought like an extra well, that’s one of the things that I always carry in my carry on. I do carry an extra pair of my boxer briefs. And on top of that, I always carry a pair of extra socks. One. It just may be nice in general, if you’re flying for a long time to change and freshen up. But God forbid, you know, if something happens, you at least have a fresh pair, but the socks I considered to be clutch because people’s feet sometimes, you know, it can get a little bit stinky. So those extra salt. Yeah. So I mean, God forbid I don’t want it to be me on there. So if it is, I have an extra pair of socks that way, if I want my shoes off, like I could hide away.

2 (11m 13s):
My other socks cover my shoes with the blanket that they gave me or something. But at least have a nice clean pair of socks put on that potentially don’t smell. And it’s just nice to have them for extra comfort.

4 (11m 24s):
Yeah, absolutely. So when we say What to pack in your carry on, we’re not talking about your luggage, that you’ll store in the overhead bin that you have to store up there. We’re talking about your personal bag, your backpack, whatever it is that you’re going to be there having under the seat in front of you, or it could be a stored above, but it’s something that you want to access frequently throughout the flight.

2 (11m 43s):
Good point on that one.

3 (11m 44s):
Yeah. Yes.

4 (11m 46s):
So we broke it up into categories so you can make sure you hit everything you need in there.

2 (11m 50s):
Potential change of clothes. Number one, like we

4 (11m 53s):
Standard some entertainment options. Brittany, what do you bring?

1 (11m 57s):
I always bring a book to read. I feel like when I’m on vacation, I love to read in general, but when I’m day-to-day life, it’s just too busy for me to read. So I love bringing a book and pulling it out and reading a few chapters on the plane. It’s a good way to pass the time. And sometimes it’ll make me sleepy enough so I can potentially fall asleep later.

4 (12m 15s):
Yeah. Zaina always brings something on the squad trips. Every time

3 (12m 20s):
Cosmopolitan magazine. I don’t even think anyone says cosmopolitan anymore, but it’s the Cosmo.

1 (12m 26s):
Yeah. I love it too. She always,

4 (12m 29s):
Brittany we’ll read one or two lines and we’ll run. We’ll swap. And then once we’re done, we give them back to the world.

3 (12m 36s):
But pro tip, make sure you’re ripping off the label that has your name and address on there

2 (12m 41s):
In case you forget it in the back seat of the plane. So no one has your personal contact information and,

1 (12m 47s):
And these are essential to bring because you can’t count on having wifi on the plane and you want it to save your phone battery most of the time. And sometimes there aren’t phone chargers on the plane. I mean, most of the time there are, but,

3 (12m 59s):
But you’d be surprised at how many long haul flights don’t have chargers for you, not the charger, but like the outlet for you to put

4 (13m 6s):
Your wifi. Even sometimes TVs they don’t have.

3 (13m 9s):
Yeah. Cause you know what, when we flew from Johannesburg, South Africa to Atlanta, when we got on the airplane, my phone was at 30% and I was like, oh, that’s okay. We’re going to have a USB outlet to plug our phone in. Nope.

1 (13m 21s):
Yeah.

4 (13m 22s):
And you drain your battery. Cause what are you always doing on it? When we

3 (13m 25s):
Candy crush, I love candy crush. I’m also a fruit ninja

2 (13m 31s):
From ninja

3 (13m 33s):
In addition to a danger ninja.

2 (13m 37s):
Yeah. So I mean, you guys bring the books, the cosmos, I hate to say it. I’m not really too much of a reader. I wish I was. I’m just not. But if I try to read on a plane, it makes me really tired and I find it very hard to sleep on planes. So it’ll get me tired and not even able to really get like deep sleep, which is frustrating. So reading really isn’t my Mo on a plane. So I like to actually have games. So speaking of phone games, candy crush, route ninja, I’ll always go to my Google play store. If you have an iPhone, your app store to see what’s fresh and new on the games and what might be interesting to you that you can play without wifi.

2 (14m 18s):
And I usually do that to kind of have a good little repertoire of things to do. But on top of that, I do also like to get those like 99 cents to Duco books.

3 (14m 27s):
Yeah.

2 (14m 28s):
It’s always entertaining to kind of have it because if you do have a long haul flight that has a TV screen and yes, you can watch movies, which kills time. They have stuff to play games, but it’s really hard to just point at the screen the entire

4 (14m 40s):
Time.

2 (14m 41s):
So I like having the actual physical seducable book and you can get those at the 99 cent store. And that definitely passes time. 10 minutes of puzzle do five puzzles. It’s like 50 minutes just already right there.

3 (14m 52s):
Also they have the entertainment magazines in the back of the sea and the most riveting thing ever is when they have puzzles in that magazine. And you can compete with someone else on the exact same puzzle to see who can finish it first.

1 (15m 6s):
Oh, that’s fun. Oh my God.

2 (15m 7s):
But you got to get lucky and make sure no one else has already written in it. So you run that risk.

1 (15m 13s):
So another essential item to put in your carry on or snacks.

4 (15m 16s):
Snacks. Yes. So Snacks are important. Even if the airline offers food and drinks and snacks on the flight, you still want to bring your own. So you’re not at the mercy of when they’re handing things out or having to get up and go ask and then you can stay full.

2 (15m 33s):
Yeah. I just want to reiterate how important that is. Does anyone remember our Hawaii flight?

4 (15m 40s):
Not

2 (15m 41s):
Even, not even very long, like yes. Some people may say like five hours is a long flight and it’s is, but it’s also not. But Hawaiian airlines was one of the few domestic airlines when you fly domestically that still actually provides a complimentary meal. So we were thinking, oh right, not too bad, terrible, terrible

4 (15m 58s):
Isn’t sandwich,

2 (15m 59s):
Prison sandwich food.

4 (16m 3s):
Good. My, and they

2 (16m 4s):
Did have good my ties, but you know what made it okay. We had our own snacks

4 (16m 10s):
Save the day.

1 (16m 11s):
I always bring the peanut butter monster mix. it’s like a trail mix with

4 (16m 16s):
Travel staple. You can

3 (16m 18s):
Get that at target.

1 (16m 19s):
It’s so good. You can’t get enough of it.

4 (16m 22s):
I always bring goldfish crackers too. For some reason I never eat them in real life. Just when I travel. What

2 (16m 28s):
About Cheez-Its?

4 (16m 29s):
I love Cheez-Its but I usually don’t get them when I travel.

2 (16m 32s):
Cause they’re the same thing, except not in the shape.

4 (16m 34s):
Well, the fish has a nice, airy middle that you crunch into.

2 (16m 38s):
Very true.

4 (16m 40s):
Someone else was having this conversation on another podcast. The other thing I always do, I know you guys bring your water bottles and refill them in the airport since you can’t bring through liquid. I normally don’t because I never want to like bring an extra water bottle to carry, but I always buy a water in the airport before getting on the plane because they gave you these tiny cups or bottles and you need more.

1 (17m 2s):
Did you hear that one airport actually banned all one use water bottles.

4 (17m 7s):
Oh, that makes

1 (17m 8s):
Sense. So I’m sure that that might happen more often. So just keep that in mind.

4 (17m 13s):
Why would

3 (17m 13s):
They do though? I guess

4 (17m 14s):
It’s classic. You could, and we’ll use it more than once. Potentially.

2 (17m 19s):
Most people don’t know they’re doing it to combat plastic waste. So for Kim, like she said, she doesn’t bring it a legitimate, like reusable water.

4 (17m 28s):
Do you think they’ll do glass instead? Or what are they going to do? Just not sell water,

2 (17m 32s):
Refill stations, refill

1 (17m 34s):
Stations or

4 (17m 35s):
Selling bottles like this

1 (17m 37s):
Or water inside cardboard boxes. Oh,

4 (17m 40s):
Cardboard water.

1 (17m 41s):
It Jamal has actually been asking on our flights, like, can you refill my water bottle? And they have been completely refilling it. Oh, that’s nice. So instead of using just the tiny plastic cups, they’ve been refilling his entire bottle.

2 (17m 52s):
Yeah. When they come by, I’ll ask them, can you refill my water bottle and they’ll fill it completely to the top on top of that. One of the things we do and I’m sure we’ll touch on this later on into this episode is we do stand up and stretch kind of in the galleys. And during the long haul flights, they will always have a few drinks out there. They’ll have soda cans for you to grab water, to fill as well. So I’ll just always go up and refill my water bottle because Kim’s no shame whatsoever. You’re right. They give you the small

4 (18m 22s):
Little

2 (18m 22s):
Ones and yep. And if you’re going to be on a flight for that long, I definitely want to be hydrated for sure. I hate feeling parched on

4 (18m 30s):
The flight plane. All right. Let’s talk comfort. Because long haul flights can be uncomfortable.

1 (18m 38s):
I have to travel with my travel pillow. I love it. It’s so good. I use it. So if I’m not sleeping, I’ll use it around my lap just as like that added like comfort level. But of course I’ll use it around my head when I’m sleeping.

3 (18m 51s):
When we were in the Cuba airport, Kim, let me use her travel pillow.

4 (18m 55s):
It was a blow up once you can crunch it up smaller and put it in your backpack and then blow it up and still be soft.

3 (19m 0s):
Yeah. Cause this was like early morning before we boarded our flight. So it was sleeping on the benches there. And I could have sworn I picked it up, I guess I didn’t. And I’m so sorry. I know I got her another one, but apparently it wasn’t as great as that one. Cause that was a really solid pillow

4 (19m 17s):
And it was a solid pillow, but someone else probably picked it up and passed on. That’s the positive there

2 (19m 25s):
Somebody is getting good use out.

4 (19m 27s):
What else do you bring? I always bring extra socks. We were talking about that earlier. If I’m wearing ankle socks, I’ll bring like Cru style. Maybe like softer socks that are just more comfortable put on during the plane. Cause it does get cold.

1 (19m 39s):
I always bring that cardigan. I was talking about,

4 (19m 41s):
Oh, I know what you bring. What do I bring your stolen airplane blanket. I

1 (19m 46s):
Didn’t bring it on my last long. Did

4 (19m 48s):
They give you one? Yes

1 (19m 49s):
They

4 (19m 49s):
Did. Okay. Did you replace it? Did you steal it?

1 (19m 52s):
No, I left it there.

4 (19m 53s):
Oh wow. You can disappointed.

1 (19m 55s):
I’ve stolen airplane blankets in the past. And I don’t really consider it stealing because I paid for my flight and they include them in my flight and I take them everywhere with me. They’re in like the backseat of my car. They’re perfect for road trips. I know you guys have used them in the backseat of my car.

3 (20m 11s):
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

1 (20m 13s):
I

2 (20m 13s):
Know we actually have photos of you guys passed out using that.

3 (20m 21s):
So Hey, if you use the blanket and you leave it on the airplane, do you think that they take it and wash it and repackage it or do you think they just repackage it or do you think they throw it away? I

1 (20m 31s):
Think they wash it and repackage it.

4 (20m 34s):
Yeah, I think so.

2 (20m 35s):
I’m sure there’s us laws and not allowing them to reuse that. I mean, those things are on the floor. Sometimes people stepping on it. I mean, airplane, bathroom’s dirty feet touching that

4 (20m 45s):
Sweaty 12 hour body, all it

1 (20m 50s):
In our last fight. They gave us some eye masks and earplugs, which could be a sunshiny.

4 (20m 55s):
See, I usually try to bring that too.

1 (20m 57s):
Yeah. If you don’t have them with you, sometimes I’ll provide them for you. And I think those are essential in clutch.

2 (21m 1s):
I was going to say a lot of airlines will do that. Even if you’re flying in economy, they will give you the eye mask ear plugs. Now that your plugs are just going to be your normal little, like a little plastic ones that fit in the iron mask. Isn’t anything great. I’m not saying all airlines do it, but a lot of the more, I don’t want to say reputable, but non-budget airlines.

4 (21m 23s):
Yeah,

2 (21m 24s):
They will. They will provide that. And if you want me to be completely honest, they want you to fall asleep on the

4 (21m 29s):
Flight. They don’t want you to

2 (21m 31s):
Be awake. Yeah. So they’re going to give you what they can, but if you’re flying and don’t know if your airline is going to have it, cause you’ve never flown them before. If those things would help you definitely take into consideration getting yourself like an iron mask or earplugs from the dollar store.

4 (21m 44s):
I actually picked up my aunt and uncle and cousin from the airport today. And they said that on their five-hour flight back, there was a kicking screaming toddler the entire time. Oh my

3 (21m 54s):
God. It was kicking, kicking their

4 (21m 56s):
Seat and screaming. So the earplugs would have, I don’t think they did. Yeah, they were being too nice.

1 (22m 2s):
I just thought of right now that is essential for comfort. What? Headphones.

4 (22m 6s):
Yeah.

3 (22m 7s):
I love my beats earphones. Even if I’m not listening to anything. Cause I feel like it just drowns the world out.

4 (22m 12s):
It’s like definitely entertainment thing too. I love to download podcasts that will play.

1 (22m 16s):
Yeah. And some airlines charge you for their headphones. So it’s essentially to bring your own and save the environment.

3 (22m 23s):
Yeah. So I actually flew premium economy from lax, which is Los Angeles to London. And I got upgraded for free. If you want to know how, make sure that you leave a five star review, screenshot it and send it to us at Travel Squad Podcast or Travel Squad Podcast at gmail.com.

4 (22m 41s):
And did you hear that though? A hack for how to get upgraded for free? It wouldn’t

3 (22m 45s):
Be

4 (22m 45s):
Yours.

2 (22m 46s):
And what did they give you in premium economy? Zeno?

3 (22m 49s):
Well, I had several glasses of champagne before we even took off. And I remember sending you guys pictures of that. I sent you pictures of the menu that they gave me, but then I also got an iron mask. I got toothpaste, I got slippers slippers. It was so nice. I also had the entire road to myself. Like it was not a packed flight. It was amazing. So again, we’ll tell you how to get that yourself. If you leave a five star review and send it to us at Instagram at Travel Squad Podcast, or email it to us at Travel Squad Podcast at gmail.com. Yes,

2 (23m 22s):
Jen and I was going to say in premium economy, at least on British airways that you flew on. I know other airlines, they reclined further. Now. They don’t recline flat that’s business class, but they reclined further to have more comfort. Some of them have foot rests. So a lot more comfort in there and correct me if I’m wrong, you get a business class meal in premium economy. Correct.

3 (23m 43s):
I don’t know if it’s the same thing that they had in business class, but I know that I wouldn’t have eaten that in economy.

2 (23m 49s):
Right. And they don’t serve it to you in a foil 10. Right? It was on a real place.

3 (23m 53s):
Exactly. Yeah. I felt like I was royalty. Even the guy who I, what is he called? The person who is head of the flight crew. He came and checked on me several times and at the end he even came back to make sure that I enjoyed my flight. Once we landed in London, he took such good care of me.

2 (24m 8s):
Very nice.

3 (24m 9s):
Yeah. What else?

4 (24m 11s):
Some things that you should bring for utility because it’s a long flight and you’re going to want to freshen up. So typically if I’m bringing my backpack on, I’ll bring a smaller little makeup Ziploc, kind of a bag to put all of this stuff in. And one thing that I always bring is chapstick because like with the water and hydration, you get really dry on a plane and I always get chapped lips and it’s awful.

1 (24m 35s):
That’s a good tip.

2 (24m 36s):
Well, because it’s dry air, that’s recirculated and you sit under the vent. So it’s just constant air hitting you too.

3 (24m 43s):
And all you single ladies, you never know when you’re going to meet someone.

4 (24m 46s):
Exactly.

1 (24m 48s):
I actually recently made a little bag and it has a whole bunch of different medications, aspirin, Pepto, ibuprofen Dramamine. It also has like a few hair ties and Bobby pins, a pack of Kleenex. It has nail Clippers. So just kind of like a all-in-one utility bag. And every time I travel, I just grabbed that one bag and it has pretty much everything I need.

2 (25m 11s):
I know my musts that I include for my utility within my personal carry on, is going to be a toothbrush and toothpaste. And obviously keep in mind, the toothpaste needs to be under three ounces. So like the travel size ones, but my regular toothbrush that I take on my trip, I don’t even put it in my checked bag. That’s on my carry on my personal item to brush my teeth freshen up and always, always, I will carry a small travel size deodorant because you’re on a plane. It’s cramped. You kind of sit and tie. I mean, if you’re talking 12 to 15 hours for a flight and that’s just potentially one, not including layovers.

2 (25m 51s):
I mean, sometimes we have travel times of 24 longest was 33 hours continuous like of traveling on a plane. You’re definitely going to want that and don’t pack it because I know sometimes I give myself anxiety thinking like, do I smell like I’ve been on air for a while? So I always, always want my deodorant to kind of freshen up, make me feel good.

4 (26m 9s):
I also like to bring face wipes because your face gets greasy and you might’ve had makeup on when you started the flight and you want to take it off. I like to bring makeup too so that I can freshen up before we head out into the city, after we land.

2 (26m 23s):
Well, speaking of face wipes and other type of wipe he might want to bring is an anti-bacterial wipe to wipe down your arm, rest your table tray and everything like that because

4 (26m 32s):
I totally thought you were going to say like baby wipes to wipe your ass.

3 (26m 36s):
That’s pretty important too. I guess

2 (26m 38s):
That was next on my wife Because I always carry baby in my carry on backpack actually. But I was going to say for a cleanliness standpoint, at least have your tray table and arm rest like an antibacterial wipe. But yes, since Kim jumped the gun on that one, always bring baby wipes way to freshen up in the nether regions. That’s for sure.

4 (27m 2s):
Yeah. Hand sanitizers another good one to bring since there are a lot of dirty surfaces in there and then, you know, perfume, lotion moisturizer, those kinds of things.

2 (27m 13s):
I was going to say, definitely don’t forget. Like if you have prescriptions, don’t pack them, carry them for me. Sometimes I’ll definitely carry or these Brittany will be the one to carry it, but she’ll always have, yeah, she’ll always have the ibuprofen than a drill maybe to put you to sleep.

4 (27m 30s):
Yeah. That was going to say there’s one type of pill that I always bring and it’s melatonin. And the reason I’m bring it is because it does help you sleep. It knocks you out. And the first time I ever took it, we were coming back from Thailand. And our friend that went with us was like, oh, I have this melatonin. I’m going to sleep on the plane. And I didn’t know what it was. So he gave me one and it was a dissolvable one you put on your tongue and I ate it. I don’t know how many milligrams it was and I’m eating it in the line to get on the plane. And he’s like, whoa, you’re going to take that right now. And like, well, yeah, I want to go to sleep. But I’m exhausted from this trip. And before the plane even takes off, I can not keep my eyes open. They were so heavy and I was knocked out until they started serving a meal and they couldn’t even wake up, eat the meal.

4 (28m 17s):
I slept the entire flight back.

3 (28m 19s):
It was pretty great.

4 (28m 20s):
And it was nice. Cause it was a 2 42 situation also, but there’s four of us in the middle. So we were just like legs on each other. Cuddling moving one way. Moving the other was great

2 (28m 30s):
Thailand. Yes. No.

3 (28m 32s):
So wait until you’re on the airplane to take the melatonin. Yeah.

4 (28m 36s):
Anything else that was utility that we should bring or that we didn’t already mention?

2 (28m 41s):
One thing I always bring the deck of cards. I know it’s kind of in the next section of something to kind of do, to play a game, especially if you’re traveling with somebody or even a low in a solitaire, but before we get to that, definitely just have it on you. It’s another thing for me,

4 (28m 53s):
The airport we’ve played cards, beat Brittany at speed. A few times

2 (28m 59s):
We’ve gotten into Rummy as of late. This is our new card game

3 (29m 2s):
Cards are so far. Yeah. So underrated.

4 (29m 4s):
So we did mention that you can get a hack for how to get upgraded for free, but there’s some other things that will tell you without having to, you should give us a review anyway, actually. But no, there’s some ways that you can work with your situation and get better service on your flight. And Zina knows these really well.

3 (29m 22s):
Yes. So I always like to, for the long haul flights, bring the crew a small gift or snack, it really helps just increase the good service because one, they don’t really expect anything. And I know most people don’t realize this, but flight attendants have to be there at the airport several hours before the flight, but they don’t actually get paid until the door. And they stopped getting paid the moment the door opens on an airplane. So, you know, like I’m not saying that they need to excuse if they give you shitty service, but you know, just have a little bit of empathy for them because you know, they’re working women just like all of us. And when you show up with a small gift or a snack, it really just, I can’t even tell you. I remember being in our men.

3 (30m 1s):
Yes. Men, thank you. We’re

4 (30m 3s):
Talking like a box of chocolate, right? Yeah. That’s like

3 (30m 5s):
That. Or even like I flew back from Atlanta to San Diego and I think it was like a 10:00 PM flight. So not exactly like red eye, but it was a late night flight and I spent probably $15 at the dollar store of just $1 for the bag and then $14 filling it up with goodies. And they were so excited. The pilot gave me a thank you. No, they wrote me a thank you note. They gave me a bottle of wine. It’s amazing. Yeah. They gave the two people in my row, free alcohol. They wanted to give me free alcohol, but I’m on a sobriety this year. So I didn’t take any alcohol though. They did give me the bottle of wine and like legit. They treated me better than the people in first class because they wanted to, not because I paid money to be treated that well.

4 (30m 49s):
And what’s your other trick for like connecting with a flight attendant.

3 (30m 52s):
Oh, so when you get on, look at them, smile, you know, rather than just passing by them, look at them in the eyes, smile and just let them know. Oh my goodness. I think I’ve flown with you before and you gave such excellent service. Thank you so much for that. And it just makes them feel so warm and fuzzy. You know, they already feel like they’ve connected with you, even if you’ve never flown with them before, but it just gets them excited because everyone loves compliments. Everyone loves their ego being fluffed. So just, you know, make them feel good. And I promise you, they’re going to turn around and make you feel good too.

1 (31m 24s):
So what do you guys do when you’re on the flight? Like when we’re actually in the air, what are your go tos

3 (31m 29s):
Candy crush.

4 (31m 30s):
Definitely try to sleep as much as possible makes it go by a lot faster.

2 (31m 35s):
Other than my StuCo book and games that I’ve downloaded on my phone. If I have an onboard entertainment system screen behind me, I will either watch movies or find one of the TV shows on there that I’m willing to marathon. That kills a good bit of time. As a matter of fact, on this last flight back, I watched the entire final season of game of Thrones and that killed a seven, 10 hour flight.

3 (31m 58s):
Where were you coming back

2 (31m 59s):
From? Oh, this was our Amsterdam to Minneapolis.

1 (32m 2s):
Oh my God. So Jamal and I both hadn’t watched it. So we plussed play at the same time. We were like, okay, 1, 2, 3 play. You watched it side by side, the entire final thesis.

2 (32m 14s):
I didn’t want her to get ahead of me or me ahead of her because I mean, we always watched it together So loyalty. We were like, all right. And so we would match up the screens the time bars and we’re like, yes we’re

4 (32m 26s):
I did that on my flight. I think coming back from Italy, we started moving at the same time.

1 (32m 31s):
So speaking of sleep, Kim haven’t you fallen asleep on someone on a

4 (32m 35s):
Plane,

3 (32m 37s):
You were asleep, so maybe you don’t remember Was going to yeah, we were on our way back from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego.

4 (32m 44s):
Also an exhausting trip we were coming back from.

3 (32m 47s):
Yes. Yes. If you listen to the Cuba episode, you’ll know how exhausting it was because it was a fun trip. So anyways, it was a stranger in the aisle. Kim was in the middle and I was at the window and I look over and Kim is dead asleep on this woman’s shoulder. And so I was like, well, I don’t know if you know, Kim would want to be woken up, you know, like, like what do I do? So I thought, okay, well, instead of like being obvious and like waking her up and embarrassing her, I’m just going to get up to go to the bathroom. So I’ll have to wake her up when I stand up so I can get over her. And that’s what I did. And then Kim realized she was asleep on her shoulder and she was really cool about it though. Yeah.

4 (33m 27s):
And nice lady. So that happens. It’s part of travel.

2 (33m 30s):
It happens another thing to do to kind of kill time on a plane. And I can speak firsthand of this because on this last trip, I ran out of space on my phone. But beyond that, it’s always kind of just going through your photos and just re, cleaning out stuff that you don’t want. I know at least in particular, when Brittany and I take photos, we take five photos of us in the same spot, just to make sure you have like good photos. So it’s always good time. And believe me when you’re going back and forth, trying to compare what photos are, what it definitely kills a lot of time.

4 (34m 1s):
That’s usually my last resort. When I’ve gone through the entertainment, I’ve already listened to everything on my phone, read things. I clean up the pictures on my phone. There’s a lot of crap on your phone.

1 (34m 12s):
A lot of screenshots, screenshots. And it’s like, these are worthless after like the moment, right? Yeah.

3 (34m 17s):
I clean up notes on my iPhone. I take a lot of notes and then I clean it up. But it’s also interesting cause it’s timestamped and I’ll see stuff from like several years ago and I’m like, whew.

4 (34m 27s):
Interesting. Yeah.

3 (34m 29s):
I love taking notes.

4 (34m 30s):
And then, you know, there’s always the mile high club, if you’re really bored.

2 (34m 35s):
And if you remember guys,

4 (34m 36s):
You guys are not, did you really

2 (34m 39s):
Shit? Okay. Calling us out. Well, that’s between Britney and I.

1 (34m 44s):
It’s not for the podcast world.

3 (34m 45s):
Between us. I

2 (34m 51s):
Know bill Britney and I rose our hands.

4 (34m 53s):
There’s the mile high club. There’s a little hanky panky in the aisle or in your seat

2 (34m 59s):
Blankets for

5 (35m 2s):
I’m just kidding.

1 (35m 5s):
Well, if you get through the online entertainment or while you’re doing the online entertainment on board onboard entertainment, you know, you can always drink alcohol

4 (35m 13s):
Drink, baby. Woo.

2 (35m 15s):
That’s one of the good things about international flights. I want to say 95% of airlines give free alcohol on international flights. I say 95 because I was just informed by Kim recently that she flew on Norwegian and they didn’t even provide meals or water on it. And international flight, which completely blows my mind. Not

3 (35m 35s):
Even water.

1 (35m 35s):
No,

4 (35m 36s):
Not free water. Boom. Right?

2 (35m 39s):
Illegal. I

4 (35m 40s):
Know we’re trapped on there for 12 hours. There’s no water.

2 (35m 43s):
I don’t know how that happens, but yeah, most airlines other than apparently Norwegian international flights give you free alcohol. So that’s a good way to fall asleep too. You don’t want to get up noxious, but definitely it can put you to sleep cause some whiskey to warm your belly wine, to relax the mind, whatever.

3 (35m 60s):
And don’t be shy. If you want more, get up, go back to the Galloway and just ask,

4 (36m 3s):
Fuck them hard.

2 (36m 6s):
It

4 (36m 7s):
Must be hard.

1 (36m 9s):
Speaking of snacks, my favorite snack box came from From Lima to Cusco. Oh, it was so good. The

4 (36m 18s):
Whole snack box. So like an assortment of

2 (36m 21s):
What is it? A meal, but just snacks, but enough Snacks to be like, wow, this is like a meal.

4 (36m 25s):
I think we were, we were still talking about it three years later. I

3 (36m 29s):
Don’t remember it. Okay.

2 (36m 31s):
I wasn’t

3 (36m 31s):
With you

4 (36m 32s):
Guys though. Oh, you weren’t with us

3 (36m 34s):
Laughed like 12 hours before you guys. So I can spend the day in Mexico city. Cause we flew out of Mexico city and then I got to Lima, Peru. And then I waited there for you guys. I think like eight hours. I don’t know it was,

2 (36m 48s):
But you were there because the laptop was from Lima to Cusco. I

3 (36m 52s):
Don’t remember the only thing I remember you were just

2 (36m 53s):
Tired from eight hours

4 (36m 55s):
Horne, The corn, corn nuts and that little cake. That was so good.

3 (37m 0s):
And the only thing I remember about the flight was I didn’t feel like the airplane was going fast enough down the runway. So I didn’t have faith that we were going to get up into the sky. So I burst into tears, like hardcore. The guy next to me, looks like worried for me. And he says to me in Spanish it’s okay. Like it’s okay. We just have a little bit more to go. And I just looked at him and I said, no SBN. And that like, I didn’t, we need to be up there. Now. This is, this is enough. And he just looked like, really? Like who the fuck did I sit next?

2 (37m 30s):
Just to give everyone a sneak peek of Zane it’s flat anxiety. She can

3 (37m 34s):
Get, she was not interested.

2 (37m 36s):
I know, but when we’re in the air, we’re fine. But takeoff and landing, Zena’s having like,

3 (37m 42s):
I’m good on landing. It’s the takeoff.

2 (37m 45s):
Did

3 (37m 45s):
Anyone else feel like LATAM airlines did not go fast enough to get up in the fucking air? I

4 (37m 49s):
Thought it was great. It was great.

3 (37m 50s):
It did. By the way, spoiler, it was good.

2 (37m 53s):
I’m still

3 (37m 53s):
Alive. I’m here.

1 (37m 55s):
I mean, I feel like recently we went on a flight with Dana and there was no turbulence at all and we leave and she goes, that was kind of a rough flight glaze, right

2 (38m 5s):
From Sacramento. That

3 (38m 7s):
Was a rough Flight.

1 (38m 7s):
No, it was not.

3 (38m 8s):
Oh my gosh.

2 (38m 10s):
Another thing that we definitely like to do on our flights is get up and move. And like I said earlier about the waters and getting sodas go to the galley way and just kind of hang out. It’s a good area to stretch. If you’re traveling with people, go up there and talk,

4 (38m 25s):
Especially if you’re not sitting next to your group, you can meet in the back and just hang out, have a few drinks, stretch a little bit.

2 (38m 32s):
How many times on our flight to China, did we go to the galley way and kill hour each time just going up and talking. We did that twice on that 10 hour flight and that’s two hours. That’s like one fifth of the flight just killed right there. Social.

1 (38m 44s):
Yeah. And there was a flight on her, I think on our way to Africa that Josh and Anna just stood behind us. We were the last seat on the plane.

4 (38m 51s):
That’s what I did when we went to Mexico city. This last time I stood by you guys.

3 (38m 56s):
No, not to New York

2 (38m 57s):
Amsterdam.

1 (38m 58s):
And so we just talked to them the entire time the flight went by so fast because they were just like right behind us talking the entire time. And we hadn’t seen them in months. So it was perfect way to catch up.

2 (39m 6s):
But always we go up and kind of hang in the gallery. It’s a good place to stretch. Literally actually stretched. Don’t get on the floor and do any yoga stretches. But you know, like then down kind of stretch, move your legs. It’s always good for you.

1 (39m 18s):
So I like to get up, walk around, get some circulation. You know, blood clots are prone to happen when you’re sitting for a long period of time and not moving around. I actually remember when I was in nursing school, there was a guy who took a road trip and he had sat in his car for five hours. Didn’t really move a lot and was like smoking cigarettes, which is also really bad for your circulation. He got to San Diego, got out of his car, walked around for an hour and then had a pulmonary embolism due to a blood clot from that road trip. So it’s great. Like when I’m in my feet, I’m moving my feet around. Also when you’re at that higher elevation, you’re prone to swelling and cutting off circulation. Cause you’re in a dependent position, meaning that your feet are on the ground for a long period of time.

1 (40m 2s):
So it’s really great to move around and get that circulation going.

3 (40m 4s):
And on that note, we’re going to take a quick break to get up and walk around and then come back and record. I’m just kidding.

4 (40m 13s):
This isn’t quite five hours, but actually it is time for my favorite part of the episode. We have some questions from our listeners and wanted to hit those real quick before we close it out with Flight etiquette, which is so important.

1 (40m 25s):
First question we were asked is what is the longest flight you’ve been on?

4 (40m 31s):
I would say it actually is only 12 hours.

1 (40m 35s):
You’re lucky

4 (40m 35s):
Or 14 from LA to Shanghai, yet 14 hours.

3 (40m 40s):
It was Dubai to San Francisco, 16 hours,

1 (40m 43s):
Jamal NEI, South Africa.

2 (40m 45s):
It was from Johannesburg to Atlanta, 16 and a half hours. You’re on a flight. That’s yours

3 (40m 51s):
By a half hour more,

2 (40m 53s):
Your second longest flight. If you buy to San Francisco,

3 (40m 55s):
There you go.

2 (40m 56s):
That was a long flight, 16 and a half hours. And as a matter of fact, just a little bit of tidbit of trivia. Last time I looked that’s either the sixth or seventh longest commercial flight in the world that Johannesburg to Atlanta in terms of flight time. But that was one flight of a 33 hour travel journey that we have.

4 (41m 18s):
Yeah, mine. Same 34 hours for Thailand or,

2 (41m 21s):
Oh yeah. We had 33 hours was our longest travel time,

4 (41m 25s):
A little bit of pain for what you get when you’re there.

2 (41m 29s):
Sometimes traveling is a little bit rough, no lie, but I feel like I endured it. So my trip is my reward and I almost as sometimes grueling as it is, I look forward to it. Cause it’s almost like my Rite of passage for me to enjoy my trip. Yeah. It’s a weird little thing that I have.

1 (41m 46s):
So what’s your worst flight? Three guys.

3 (41m 49s):
That’s a good question.

1 (41m 50s):
That’s from one of our listeners.

4 (41m 51s):
Well I’m mine. It goes back a ways I was flying from St. Louis, Missouri to Sacramento. And I think I got a UTI, but I wasn’t aware of it yet. Oh my

3 (42m 3s):
God.

4 (42m 4s):
Yes. It wasn’t that bad yet. It just starting or whatever put up. It made me feel sick and I’d eaten a cinnamon roll from the food court in the airport right before getting on the plane. And I was like throwing up on the plane. I like almost, I feel like I had a fever. I don’t know. It was really bad. I will never been able to eat Cinnabon ever again.

3 (42m 25s):
I’ve never had a bad Flight per se. I would say like anything with turbulence and anytime you take off,

2 (42m 33s):
So multiple times that you think you’re going to die during turbulence

4 (42m 38s):
From San Diego to new Orleans, we were like bobbing around whole crazy, like up in our seats flopping around. That was the worst turbulence I’ve ever felt.

3 (42m 46s):
I remember like one flight. It was just absolutely terrifying when we were taken off. And so I kept looking Jamal and Brittany were in the back and I was kinda more in the middle and I kept turning around to look at Jamal because as long as the Jamal has like, everything’s cool face, I feel good. You know? And the lady that I was sitting next to you, she’s like, are you okay? And I was like, oh yeah, I’m just checking my brother’s face. Cause as long as his face is good. We’re good.

2 (43m 7s):
I remember you looking back and giving you the thumbs up. Like everything’s fine.

3 (43m 10s):
I just need a thumbs up guys. And I’m okay.

1 (43m 13s):
Jamal. And don’t you have a pretty bad flight story.

2 (43m 15s):
I actually have three. I imagine one of the, maybe yours, if we’re going to talk about the time that we legitimately thought we were going to fall out of the sky.

1 (43m 26s):
That was my

2 (43m 27s):
Only one. Okay. So I’ll let you say that one. So I have two, one of them was actually a short flight, but this is still when we lived in Northern California and me and my friends were going to six flags and Disneyland for like a little weekend getaway. And we had drove and I started to get really sick in the middle of the night. And I figured, all right, I’m going to try to troop it out at magic mountain. Cause we were doing that first before Disneyland got really sick. How to have them take me home. Like I was throwing up. Couldn’t hold it down.

3 (43m 58s):
But you know, in all fairness you tripped it out in the park and just got pushed around in the wheelchair until you couldn’t handle it anymore.

2 (44m 4s):
True. That’s true. But I got to the point where I needed to fly emergency home. So

4 (44m 11s):
Yeah.

2 (44m 12s):
Well, I mean, it wasn’t like emergency charter. It was a Southwest, but I made them drop me off at the airport. I was like, I’m going home. I can’t handle this. So flying really, really sick. I actually got admitted to the hospital and they were going to take out my appendix because they were inflating that was causing the issue. They never ended up doing it, but that was a terrible experience. But I would beyond that, the other one was something that was out of my control. And it was as a matter of fact on that 16 and a half hour flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta, I sat next to the smelliest person. I have ever sat by on a plane, like no exaggeration. Brittany was window.

1 (44m 51s):
Sure. In real life, like I don’t think you’ve smelled anyone worse than the,

2 (44m 54s):
And like it was bad. So we were on the plane. It was, she was honestly no exaggeration the last and if not the last second to last person to come down the island, we’re going to have an open spot. And I was like, man, please don’t come sit by us. Please don’t come sit by us because she loves, she sat by,

3 (45m 15s):
She was like in her like late twenties, early thirties. So she was young. Yes.

2 (45m 18s):
She was about our age and she just, she looked grungy. She smelled like she’s been out like, and I say this because we were in Africa leaving, she looks like she was out in the African Bush doing, I don’t even know what maybe just like got done with a two day safari burnt shower, smell like, oh, it was actually pretty bad. The saving grace was that the majority of the flight, she actually had a blanket over her. So that kind of like covered everything. Yeah. She had a blanket over her and that kind of like covered the smell. But the moment she wanted to fidget with her onboard entertainment, like individual TV on the back, her armpit came out of the blanket and she, she smelled and she kept drinking milk

1 (46m 0s):
Milk, like at least four times. And when she ordered something different,

2 (46m 4s):
It was, it was her alcoholic drink. It was Bailey’s so still more dairy. So I would say those two are my worst flight experience. It’s

4 (46m 14s):
Pretty bad.

1 (46m 15s):
Yeah. My worst fight experience was actually when I was with Jamal and we were both on a flight from Palauan in the Philippines back to Manila, the main land and the Capitol. And we were flying. We went in June. I would not recommend going to the Philippines in June. It’s typhoon season and

2 (46m 32s):
It’s hot and

1 (46m 33s):
Humid. And I came in and we flew through a typhoon and our plane hit an air pocket and dropped and we could feel it literally just the airbags come down and place.

2 (46m 46s):
No, no it didn’t. It felt like a rollercoaster. It was such a drop. You felt it in your stomach. Let’s put it that.

1 (46m 52s):
And so everyone on the plane gasped and was like screamed with like was afraid. And it was so bad that we knew when the flight attendants were reacting negatively to the fall as well. That

2 (47m 4s):
Was like, oh my gosh,

4 (47m 6s):
They weren’t expecting it.

2 (47m 7s):
I knew you weren’t on that one Santa, you would have probably died of a heart attack legitimately

3 (47m 13s):
That, or I would have, I like, I I’m sure I would’ve passed out.

1 (47m 16s):
Yeah.

4 (47m 17s):
I’m surprised nobody mentioned the fart story as one of your worst flight stories.

3 (47m 22s):
Oh, well you know what? Okay. We’re going to talk about Flight etiquette, but honestly, like it can’t even be worse because it was so fucking funny. Like it’s disgusting, but it’s so fucking funny. So let’s just go ahead and skip right to it, man. What

2 (47m 35s):
About real quick, best flight experience?

4 (47m 37s):
My best flight experience. It was when I was still a kid. I think I was like 16 or less and me and my brothers were flying to Alaska to visit my dad. And we got upgraded to first class. Only home. My life had been upgraded to first class. I really wish it would have happened after I was 21. I could have drank, but it was awesome. It was amazing.

3 (47m 58s):
Let’s say best is I did get upgraded for free to premium economy. Like I mentioned earlier, lax to London, but not to sound corny, but I was all by myself. So it’s so amazing. But like really whenever I’m on the plane, having fun with you guys is fun time, even if you’re cramped, But it’s so true. Like, you know, like I’m in the nicest area to the, well, it wasn’t first class, but you know what I mean? Like I was in a really nice area and when you’re all by yourself, it’s nice. But at the same time you don’t have anyone to share it with.

4 (48m 28s):
Yeah. Money can’t buy you companionship. That’s

3 (48m 30s):
True.

4 (48m 31s):
What about you guys?

1 (48m 32s):
I don’t have one in particular

4 (48m 34s):
Really? Of all the flights you’ve taken none stand out as being particularly great.

1 (48m 39s):
No, I mean, I don’t even with us. I mean, like I have a really good time with you guys, but like even the lows, I mean, I’ve had one low and it was something out of my control, but I feel like all of my flights been pretty even like, nothing’s been really awesome. Really nothing’s been super negative. So

2 (48m 55s):
I would say for me, you know, I’m kind of in the same boat as Brittany on that. Like, I can’t think of anything. That’s just really been a stand out, but I know one time when we were kids, when we were going to Lebanon, we were obviously it was a transatlantic flight, big plane and it was a 3, 4, 3 setup. And it wasn’t very full. And that’s the only time I feel like I’ve ever been on a transatlantic flight where there was enough middle seats available that we were able to just go out and actually lay on them to sleep. Now I was younger than so obviously the smaller seats weren’t that big of a deal then. But I remember that vividly that’s the only time I’ve ever really had like an open area to lay

4 (49m 35s):
Happened.

2 (49m 36s):
That was really nice. But beyond that, like best flight experience, really just any flight that gets me to a vacation. Like I said before, they feel like the flight is a Rite of passage for me, for my trip. And even though sometimes they’re grueling, it’s enjoyable just for that.

4 (49m 49s):
I actually have one more. I was so hung over after Nicole’s wedding in Mexico city still drunk, probably hung over. Definitely. And got on the plane. No one was sitting next to me. I fell asleep right away, laying down across all three seats, woke up landing.

1 (50m 2s):
That’s amazing. So before we close out this episode, let’s just talk about some Flight etiquette.

3 (50m 10s):
So number one was shower before the flight, please

4 (50m 13s):
Don’t be like that lady sitting next to Jamal.

1 (50m 17s):
Also hold your flatulence,

4 (50m 20s):
Hold it in people.

3 (50m 22s):
We’ve got two awesome stories about this one. When we were flying from San Diego to

4 (50m 29s):
Vegas,

3 (50m 30s):
This is all four of us. We were San Diego to Vegas, someone farted on the airplane and it was so bad. And this is like a late night party flight, Friday nights to

2 (50m 41s):
Vegas. It

4 (50m 43s):
Was gusting.

3 (50m 44s):
Yeah. I’m like, oh my God. Like someone let it really,

4 (50m 49s):
It smelled like it came from like the aisle right in front of us. Yeah.

3 (50m 54s):
So, you know, as for, we can’t stop laughing because it’s so bad at then we’re like, I wonder if anyone thinks it’s cause we’re laughing. It wasn’t it definitely

1 (51m 6s):
The second time was from San Diego to Japan and like, we didn’t hear anything, but we smelled

4 (51m 13s):
The same milk lady.

3 (51m 14s):
No, that

4 (51m 15s):
Was Africa. Okay.

1 (51m 17s):
So we just kept getting like whiffs, whiffs and whips. And so we’re all looking around like,

2 (51m 24s):
Brittany, if you want me to be honest,

4 (51m 26s):
Does that

2 (51m 28s):
And sorry. I thought it could have been Brittany. And so I even looked at her to ask her, I was like, Brittany, is that you? And just like, no, it’s definitely not. And I’m like, okay.

1 (51m 35s):
I’m like looking back at my mom and my niece. And I’m like, there’s something behind us. I’m like, is that you guys? And they thought my niece, she thought it was me because they kept looking at her.

2 (51m 48s):
Yeah. When we finally asked her, she’s like, no, I thought it was you just cause you kept looking back. And I thought you were trying to see my reaction.

3 (51m 55s):
You know, it’s like it smell. And so I’m in the same row as Jamal and Brittany, but it’s a two for two. So Jamal, Brittany, her up against the window. And then I’m at the aisle conjoined with them in that aisle. And so it’s not like it was ahead of me and behind me,

4 (52m 10s):
Like all around

1 (52m 14s):
You,

3 (52m 15s):
I would have told you guys if it was me, but yeah. So I’m, you know, it’s tight spaces, not a lot of breathing room for the air,

4 (52m 25s):
Go to the bathroom and do,

2 (52m 27s):
If you got to do it, just please go up and go to the bathroom and do it. They have fans in the bathroom that suck that air out legitimately. Really? So let’s do that.

3 (52m 37s):
If you think you’re going to be discreet, you’re not,

4 (52m 40s):
Oh, the one that won’t make noise and ends up just killing everyone on the plane.

3 (52m 46s):
And by the way, like that was the entire flight, like legit every 10, 15 minutes,

1 (52m 53s):
It didn’t stop.

4 (52m 53s):
So you may want to pack a nose, plug in your carry on.

1 (52m 57s):
I wish they made like Poo-Pourri for farts,

4 (53m 0s):
Just something up here. But

3 (53m 3s):
Maybe it was like a flight attendant who just like cropped us. This article about like secrets of flight attendants. And like one of the flight attendants secrets was like, she passed his gas when she’s walking down the aisle. And it’s always fun to like look at the passengers to figure out like, oh my God,

2 (53m 24s):
Trying to figure out what passengers. Well, another thing that really gets me in terms of etiquette, I cannot stand people who do not put their seat up during meal service to

3 (53m 34s):
Rude, put your seat up.

4 (53m 36s):
Some flight attendants will come around and tell people. But lately on flights, I haven’t been seeing them do it.

2 (53m 41s):
Yeah. And if you’re too scared to do it, cause you don’t want to cause confrontation on the plane and tell the person in front of you because it’s already tight as it is when they’re leaned back and just eating, it’s really difficult. Use your attendant, call button, get the flight attendant. You don’t even need to say anything. Point to the seat. They’ll know exactly what you’re saying. And then they’ll be the ones to tell the person in front of you move your seat up.

3 (54m 2s):
But I do want to encourage you to speak up. You guys, it’s not that big of a deal to just tap them on the back and say, Hey, would you mind putting your seat up while we’re eating dinner or whatever meal it is, speak up. You can do it. Yeah.

1 (54m 13s):
I think this made Jamal’s flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta, even worse because not only was he sitting next to that smelly person, the person in front of us, wasn’t putting their seat up.

3 (54m 23s):
Did you say something?

4 (54m 24s):
You see something? Say something.

1 (54m 26s):
I think

3 (54m 26s):
He would’ve said something the whole time. So yeah,

4 (54m 29s):
But people do put their seats back often and that’s okay. I’m perfectly fine with that. In terms of Flight etiquette. I do think it’s appropriate. But the one thing I absolutely hate is when people pull on your seat, when they stand up, it’s like, dude, use your arm. Rest, use your hands. Like use your core strength.

3 (54m 52s):
And then next tip is, if you’re in the aisle or window seat, let the middle person have the armrest.

4 (54m 58s):
Seriously. I always end up in the middle and I’m like, you guys give me some room, but if I’m ever on the window, I like lean on the window and move away from people. Same with the island. Like get trying to get as far away from the middle person as possible, next to me. Oh, when it’s you I’m like putting my feet up and weighing on you. Like it’s okay to sleep on you.

3 (55m 17s):
Okay,

2 (55m 17s):
Good. This is when you’re with strangers.

4 (55m 19s):
Yeah. With strangers. I’m like get out of my bubble.

1 (55m 22s):
Also when you take off your shoes, which is okay. Like, I like to take my shoes off during flight, but if you get up and walk around, put them back on.

4 (55m 29s):
I’ve definitely gone to the bathroom without shoes on.

2 (55m 33s):
You know what that reminds me of Kim. That reminds me of Brittany. Here’s walking into the public restroom without

3 (55m 39s):
Shoes.

2 (55m 40s):
Yeah. That’s disgusting. That’s

4 (55m 42s):
What is, I mean

2 (55m 43s):
That’s, I mean

4 (55m 45s):
These slippers and economy,

2 (55m 46s):
I’m going to reserve judgment on you because you may have just been tired. But that’s what

3 (55m 51s):
I

4 (55m 51s):
Did. I did.

2 (55m 52s):
Okay. But still that’s one of my things, like I take my shoes off fine, but like, I don’t like when people run the plane with their shoes off.

4 (55m 58s):
Yeah. Yeah. It’s pretty gross. I definitely judge people when they do it too.

2 (56m 4s):
And speaking of shoes off, don’t put your feet through the seats to other people’s seats. It happens more often than you think. And I don’t understand how people think that that’s appropriate or okay.

3 (56m 15s):
Oh, you know what? And that just makes me think that if you have long hair, don’t throw your hair over the seat. So it’s

2 (56m 21s):
Like walking the screen or somebody else’s seat. Yeah. I’ve seen that once. Yeah. It’s ridiculous.

4 (56m 28s):
This meme on like Facebook, somebody drying their underwear in the air.

2 (56m 33s):
That’s a new one. That’s a good one. It just came out. Didn’t I saw it like a couple of days ago. Oh wow. That’s

4 (56m 39s):
Funny.

2 (56m 40s):
It’s funny that you say that. Cause I just

4 (56m 42s):
Saw that

2 (56m 44s):
Someone had their underwear off and was blow-drying it with the air vents. That was

3 (56m 49s):
An airplane. Yeah.

2 (56m 51s):
I didn’t see this. I saw this online or somebody doing something. I don’t know if it was recorded. Like as a joke. If someone was looking at me doing that,

3 (56m 59s):
That’s humiliating.

2 (57m 1s):
That’s why you bring a second pair of underwear Back to the tip section.

4 (57m 6s):
Panty liner. She should have been wearing one.

3 (57m 9s):
Yeah. So let’s see. Next one is, if you are the lucky beneficiary of an aisle seat, allow the passengers in the middle and the window seat to get up when needed. And don’t be a douchebag about it. You chose that seat, you know, what’s going to happen. And if they have to get up, just be nice. Yeah.

4 (57m 25s):
And if you are sitting in the middle or the window, if the aisle person gets up, that’s always, when I get up to go to the bathroom to me to take advantage of the opportunity,

2 (57m 33s):
Very good tip right there. It came. If somebody is doing it and you don’t really have to go, but probably could take that opportunity so they don’t have to get up again.

1 (57m 41s):
And it’s a good place to stand up and move around.

4 (57m 44s):
Yeah. Next one. Control your offspring.

3 (57m 49s):
We’re not moms shaming. Anyone. We are not. Or

4 (57m 51s):
Dad shaming. But like I said, my aunt and uncle just went on this flight and the kid was kicking their seat and screaming the entire time I get it. If they’re screaming, sometimes you can’t control them. But the kicking, I can’t control that. I look back sometimes and I’m like, should I yell at this kid right now? Or should I continue with

2 (58m 7s):
The kicking, the throwing or even running up and down the aisles? Like if they’re crying, like legitimately, I understand that you can’t stop that, but you can control their other behaviors, you know? And I’ve seen kids run up and down the aisle. I think a lot of people think that this is okay.

4 (58m 25s):
Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t have kids. Maybe you’re just at that point. You’re like, I don’t care what you do get away from me,

2 (58m 31s):
Baby. But,

1 (58m 33s):
And our last one is when the plane lands do not get up and rush the front, please have some etiquette, let people in front of you get off in an orderly fashion. Don’t try to bum rush everyone. Get on the plane.

4 (58m 45s):
China was really bad at this Mexican kind of

1 (58m 48s):
Bad too. Yeah.

3 (58m 50s):
It’s like, Ugh. The worst. You know, when the people right in the aisle behind you, like bum rush past you. I remember like

4 (58m 57s):
I want to get off

3 (58m 57s):
Too. There was one flight. I think it was like a national flight or a domestic flight and maybe it was Denver or something. And they kept trying to like push past me. And so I kept being just as aggressive and getting out there to not let them, but it’s so rude, dude. It’s just so rude.

1 (59m 13s):
Yeah. I agree.

3 (59m 14s):
So fucking rude. I’m so passionate about rooted in,

2 (59m 18s):
Let people in front go first. Absolutely

4 (59m 21s):
Disembark in an orderly fashion.

2 (59m 23s):
Any other final thoughts on long haul air travel or just air travel in general ladies?

4 (59m 28s):
I just want to say that even though a flight can be very long and you can’t make time go faster, there are tons of things that you can do to entertain yourself and make it less painful. And then what’s waiting for you on the other side of that flight is always going to be worth it.

1 (59m 42s):
And if you guys have some good tips that we didn’t share, please let us know. Oh yeah. I’d love to hear them. All right.

4 (59m 47s):
Okay guys. Well, thank you so much for listening. Hope you learned some valuable tips that you can take for yourself on your next long haul flight.

2 (59m 55s):
And please subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, tell us what you’d like and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

3 (1h 0m 2s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Travel Squad Podcast,

1 (1h 0m 8s):
Make sure to pack your bags and grab your passports. Next week, we are going to Europe and exploring the Adriatic coast.

6 (1h 0m 14s):
Oh

7 (1h 0m 16s):
Bye guys.

1 (1h 0m 17s):
Bye