Style in the Sky

Gone are the days of gourmet meals and per­sonal pam­per­ing when you fly in the sky. This doesn’t mean you can’t take mat­ters into your own hands and make the most of your travels.

Half the vaca­tion fun for me is get­ting to my des­ti­na­tion by air­plane. I’m shar­ing some of my tips and tricks to make your next adven­ture first class, even when you’re in coach.

I’m Bored:

• The iPad is def­i­nitely my newest lux­ury item to help keep the bore­dom blues to a min­i­mum. Plan ahead and down­load movies, t.v. shows, mag­a­zines and boooks so you can watch them with­out hav­ing access to inter­net. If you’re a nos­tal­gic junkie like me, you can enjoy a few good hours of some seri­ous Pac Man. Be sure to dou­ble check that your bat­tery is com­plet­ing charged before, which will give you approx­i­mately 10 hours of use. Don’t for­get to bring your own ear piece and a split­ter if you’re not trav­el­ing alone.
• If you don’t have an iPad, pack a few good mag­a­zines, a book you haven’t had time to read and deck of cards. For those who are crafty, knit­ting can be a relax­ing and enjoy­able way to pass time. (see TSA reg­u­la­tions here for knit­ting details)

I’m Uncom­fort­able:

• I always bring an inflat­able neck pil­low. It helps me sleep when space is so lim­ited and espe­cially when I’m prac­ti­cally sit­ting com­pletely erect. Don’t for­get earplugs and eye pads if you’re plan­ning on get­ting some rest. (think cry­ing babies and the neigh­bor who won’t close their win­dow shade)
• Although I’d love to bring a cozy blan­ket, it’s not always prac­ti­cal due to space. Instead I wear a com­fort­able coat that can dou­ble as a blanket.
• Com­pres­sion socks really help keep swollen feet at bay. They’re not exactly styl­ish, but they work wonders.
• I like to take my make-up off after take-off and slather a lot of mois­tur­izer on. Pack some travel size make-up remov­ing cloths. Then occa­sion­ally I spritz a lit­tle water on my face which really helps with skin dehy­dra­tion. (which helps pre­vent air­borne blem­ishes to appear)  I also pack a mini make-up kit so I can reap­ply a lit­tle before land­ing. For me that might be some mas­cara and lip­stick that dou­bles as blush.

I’m Hun­gry:

It would be nice if I fig­ured out how to bring my own shrimp cock­tail and filet mignon, fol­lowed by a choco­late lava cake. Until then, I have a few sug­ges­tions on mak­ing the most of your culi­nary expe­ri­ence above the clouds.

• Pack a vari­ety of snacks that include a pro­tein, salty and sweet option. Good qual­ity beef jerky from your local farm­ers mar­ket is a good choice. A tiny box of Godiva choco­lates will usu­ally do the trick too. Get some gourmet good­ies that you wouldn’t ordi­nar­ily buy at home. I pack a mini brie’ cheese, crack­ers, salami and dried apri­cots depend­ing on my flight. Bring what­ever will make you happy! After all, you’re on vacation.
• I also pack a goodie bag for each of us fly­ing which includes some of the basics like gum, lol­lipops (the only thing that helps my ears pop) hand san­i­tizer, etc…
• Due to safety reg­u­la­tions we can­not bring bev­er­ages like the good old days (think, sneak­ing on mini bot­tles of vodka). How­ever, you can bring your own high qual­ity tea bags, honey sticks, nat­ural sugar packs and Star­bucks instant cof­fee pow­der, which def­i­nitely will help you feel like you’re in first class.

Cost Plus is one of my favorite stores to stock up on air­plane goodies.

For up to date TSA reg­u­la­tions click here.

Please share any of your travel secrets with us in the com­ments section…