Hydration
Drinking at least
eight ounces of
water for each
hour in flight is highly recommended. The airlines carry about 2-3 ounces of bottled water per
passenger, as near as I can tell. So, you’ll need to bring your own water. I tend to save my one to two liter bottles and fill them up with filtered water from my home. This adds a lot of
weight to the carry-on luggage at the beginning of the trip, but you’ll be happy to find how light it is when you de-board.
Another item that most people don’t think of is nasal
saline. This is available under the brand names Ocean and NaSal, and generics are also available. It’s basically water and salt, and maybe a buffer. Use this every hour to hour-and-a-half of the flight. Nasal saline, unlike medicated sprays, can be used as much as you want without any harmful effects. Be sure to take
tissues with you too.
DO NOT USE A
MEDICATED NOSE SPRAY! Unless you are
desperate to unclog your sinuses, do not use a medicated nose spray. These dry out the sinuses, causing you to be more susceptible to further
infections. Also, over-use of medicated nose sprays has yuchy side-effects.
The
water and nasal
saline are critical for any flight over one hour long. The airplanes are not
humidified. The water they would need to carry in order to humidify would weigh too much, and either the airplane would not be able to take off, or the airline would loose
profit. Without humidification, our sinuses and lungs become quite
dry. It’s even possible to get
dehydrated. Once they are dry, they can no longer provide
defense against the bacteria and viruses floating around in the
recirculated air.
A good hand & face
moisturizer will help protect your skin from the dry air.
Food
You know how
bad or
scarce the airplane food is. They will send you on a three-leg journey totaling nine hours with only a handful of
pretzels on each leg. If they do serve food, there’s no guessing what it might be.
High
protein, compact foods work best. The protein is absorbed and used slowly, and so will stay with you for a while. I like
nuts (peanuts, almonds, yogurt, whatever) and nutrition bars. I also frequently carry small
carrots. It is often difficult to find high
nutrition food in an airport.
How to estimate journey length
I use this
formula:
(Length of trip (in hours) x 2) + 1 hour = high end of probable journey time (in hours)
For trips where the flight is scheduled to be less than one hour, take enough food & water for
three hours.
After years of
experience, I’ve found that this formula produces a pretty
accurate estimate of the longest time I am likely to be on the plane. There are days when the plane pulls away from the gate and sits on the tarmac for more than the total estimated flight time, but that is somewhat rare. In fact, it’s less common now that people are starting to
sue the
airlines for holding them hostage. Lately when there has been a problem the planes usually return to the gate within 30 to 45 minutes and allowed people to deboard.