Do you ever wonder what you should take with you for an international flight? When I first flew internationally in 2010, I had no idea. I blindly followed the flight attendants, wishing for this or that when I didn’t have something that would have been useful and made due.
Since that trip, I’ve traveled quite a bit more.
With international flights, there are some things that you absolutely can’t live without while on the plane. Here are just a few I’ve found vital.
+ Pen! – you need a pen to fill out your customs cards. Its best to fill them out before landing since the lines can be very very long. (just imagine your entire plane of 200-300 people racing toward that one line) Stopping at the tables to fill them out will only serve to put you at the end of that very long line.
speaking of very long customs lines, if you’re a US citizen…
+ Global Entry card. If you travel and fly into an international airport that has Global Entry, GET IT! It will allow you to bypass those hideous lines, scan your passport and leave those poor sad tired people to stand there for (sometimes) hours. It’s been an incredible lifesaver for every single one of my re-entries.
+ Passport and airline ticket. These are needed for your customs cards, so its best to have them next to that pen, for easy access. Sarah shared this great travel wallet that would take care of that for you.
+ Socks and sweater. The flight is cold. There’s nothing worse than being cold the entire flight when all you want to do is be cozy and sleep.
+ Noise canceling headphones. For international flights, they’re practically mandatory.
+ A back up t-shirt. You never know if you’ll spill or…ummm stink up the one you’ve been wearing for the past 15 hours. Smelling fresh is always welcome with a clean top.
+ iPad and movies pre-downloaded. I say this, but check with your airline to see if they offer individual tvs w/free movies on the flight. Air Canada did, so I never touched my iPad once, while Hawaiian Airlines makes you pay $15 to watch their movies, so I made sure to load up my iPad in those cases.
There’s plenty of small things that can be brought as well that don’t make my essential list:
water, snacks, credit card to buy duty free food if you get hungry, comfy pants if you aren’t in them already (I wear my leggings), hair tie for the crazy static that can happen, neck pillow… to name a few.
a little flashback.
Mexico
Japan
Hawaii
Italy
France
What are some things that you have to have while on your flight? The essentials I missed that come with you no matter what?
Tomorrow I’m going to show how to pack for 3 weeks in a full sized suitcase and then in a carry on. Oh yes, it happened. Be amazed…
ps..I realize Hawaii isn’t international, but it’s still a minimum 5 hour flight, so these become necessities just as much as everywhere else.
1 comment:
These are very helpful posts! I don't fly very often but I will be glad to have these posts to refer back to in case I do fly internationally one day!
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