First-time travelers or out-of-practice travelers can often struggle with settling into the airplane mindset. It is not easy to fly and there are many boxes to tick before you can board a flight especially as far as comfort, budgeting, and airline rules are concerned. Here are a few travel tips to help your transition to a short or long-haul flight.
Be Wary Of Over Packing
Luggage especially excess luggage is the bane of every traveler (even if they are not frequent fliers) so be wary of over-packing for your travels as most airlines charge extra for baggage above a certain weight limit. As a general rule, always check the baggage allowance for each airline and practice the frequent flier’s pro tip of packing only essentials in a carry-on bag or suitcase.
Knowing all these tips, frequent travelers tend to choose dimensions, such as a carry-on 55x40x20 suitcase, as they not only adhere to most airline size restrictions but also offer practical advantages. The smaller size makes them easier to maneuver through airports, and they eliminate excess baggage fees, so they promote more cost-effective and streamlined travel. Additionally, the convenience of having essentials in a compact carry-on enhances accessibility during your journey.
Have Your Valuables Near You
Instances of misplaced checked-in luggage or damaged suitcases are far more common than you might think. Always keep your valuables near you such as jewelry, your wallet, and your laptop, tablets, or other electronic devices. You can store them in a special laptop bag or your carry-on but never pack them into your main luggage. The same goes for cameras, important documents, and your phone. Be particular about reading what your airline allows in carry-on luggage!
Endless Entertainment
While flying with edibles may seem like entertainment enough (in-flight food is not known to be amazing unless you’re in first class) you will easily get bored if your flight is more than a few hours long. Pack lots of quality entertainment whether it is pre-downloading music, movies, TV shows, or books. You can also download audiobooks or podcasts which you normally wouldn’t have time to finish in your daily life. Being in the air is a great time to catch up with shows you have fallen behind on!
Have Your Essential Documents Accessible
A common and often very inconvenient mistake that new fliers make is that they pack their essential documents like their boarding pass, ID, etc in an inaccessible pocket in their bag. When they go through the first checkpoint they waste time looking for all the documents and this also increases the chances of something falling out of the bag or getting misplaced. Not to mention you will attract glares from the security personnel who have a time-sensitive task to complete.
Regarding the question of whether you can fly with a temporary paper ID, it all depends on whether your flight is local or international. While for the latter it is impossible to travel with just a temporary paper ID, now there are more stringent regulations even for local travel and you will usually need to show other forms of identification so come prepared.
Bring The Small Comforts
If you are unused to flying, it is the small comforts that will make all the difference such as a comfy neck pillow, noise-canceling headphones, an essential oil roll-on, or some painkillers and medicine if you get motion sickness or migraines. Decide what comfort means for you and try to incorporate as many of those elements as you can to make your flight tolerable and even enjoyable.
