Vacation!

[owlmoose]

T and I are going to Dubai in the third week of March! To visit my friend M, who's been teaching there for a couple of years, and also to see the mega-architecture and experience a very different kind of place. We've been trying to get this together for awhile, so to suddenly have it happening at almost the last minute is a bit daunting, but I'm more excited than not.

Any suggestions for surviving a sixteen hour plane flight, possibly in sub-optimal seats, are very welcome.

Comments

[spindizzy]

Oh wow, that sounds like it's going to be amazing! I hope that you enjoy it!

... I have zero suggestions for a sixteen hour flight, I'm afraid, beyond ereaders and napping?

[ukefied]

Bring drowsy antihistamines, both for recycled plane air and to knock yourself out for the bulk of the flight.

The HEALTHIER solution is to bring many books you've been meaning to read, and get up and walk around the plane every hour or so.

[sathari]

Oh, wow, that's amazing! Dubai is one of those places I have long wanted to visit, so, super excited for you on a "selfish" level as well as "yay thing you've wanted for a while"!

Surviving the plane ride: Dress in layers. Since this is pleasure and not business, you probably won't need to wear clothes that are "businessy" on the plane, so also dress with an eye for comfort and comfort alone. If you can squeeze one or more "soft squishy things" into your carryons, DO IT, and array them strategically in your seat, and move them around as you need to. Under the heading of "dress in layers" is clothes that you can use as pillows or blankets so that you won't have to rely on the airline ones (sweatshirts and similar are awesome for this). Drowsifying antihistamines are a great call, as are noise-cancelling headphones, especially if they provide at least some cancellation when they're turned off for takeoff and landing; I find the sooner I get to sleep the better on a plane. Books and other entertainment media are of course a must, as are chargers for them--- you may be able to charge things on the plane, and definitely take advantage of that. Do walk around lots if you're not sleeping/sleepy. That's about all I can think of.

[pete_thomas]

3DS/DSi, Alcohol, and shit you've been meaning to read but haven't yet.

Safe travels!

[radish]

Seconding everything everyone else said (except I'd suggest some drowsy-making/anxiety-reducing meds in place alcohol -- I shudder to think of the possibility of an in-air hangover, and that's entirely possibly with 16 hours), but also try to stand up and walk around as much as possible.

And you probably know this, but once you get through the security gate, buy a big bottle of water to bring on the plane with you. Being stuck with dinky little plastic cups incapable of hydrating anyone beyond a toddler on the dry pressurized climes of a plane is not fun.