conquering red eye and International flights

Taking a red eye or international flight is always really difficult on the body, especially if you're flying on that poor man's budget on basic economy. You want to make sure your body is well rested during the flight so you're not paying for it when you're traveling. I've heard of too many horror stories of my friends not having good flights and jet lag ruining their trips, or other friends who didn't take care of themselves on a 11 hour flight that got them sick for days. 

Here are my tricks when it comes to mastering these flights:

• Drink plenty of water - I always buy a large water bottle for longer flights so I don't have to bother the attendants to constantly refill my cup. It's important to stay hydrated on long flights! Some planes will even have a water dispenser right outside of the restroom stall. You can't bring in filled bottles through security but you can either bring an empty reusable bottle, or buy a bottle at the airport. 
• Socks and slippers - If I'm not wearing closed toed shoes on the plane, I'll always bring a pair of socks in my purse because I know it gets cold on the plane. Recent discovery that I credit my mama for is bringing slippers on the plane. It totally makes sense since you're stuck on this chair for the next 11 hours, you want to be as comfortable as you possibly can. Don't your feet ever get super swollen on flights? Yeah, me neither... 
• Sleeping pillow - find a pillow that works for you! I highly recommending buying and trying a pillow on a shorter flight first to make sure it's comfortable for you. I've personally found more uncomfortable pillows than comfortable ones. My favourite thus far is the trtl pillow. See my review here!
  • If you're sensitive to light, I'd also recommend wearing an eye mask. You gotta do what you gotta do.
• Sleeping aid - I've read that melatonin helps people fall asleep on planes. I'm already a light sleeper on planes so having something this natural and light didn't work on me; whereas it does for my mama. I bought Zzzquil, which is made by the makers of Nyquil, and it works like a charm. I like the pills over the cough syrup or gummies because with these, you can cut a few packs and travel with that instead of traveling with the entire can or container.
  • If you're on a red eye like going to PST to ET where you'll be starting your day as day as soon as you get off the plane, make sure you take the pill either at the gate or as soon as you get to your seat for maximum shut eye! 
• Silence - I don't know about you, but I'm super sensitive to sound when I'm trying to sleep. Use your headphones or earphones to drown sound out. Note that you might want to consider earphones because headphones can cause discomfort in combination with the pillow. I'll sometimes just wear my noise-canceling headphones and not play music. 
  • A good alternative to both headphones and earphones is wearing high fidelity earplugs. They're the earplugs you wear for concerts, etc. so they drown out sound quite well. 
• Time it right - especially for international flights, I'll turn my clocks to my destination's local time as soon as I get on the plane to avoid jet lag. You're basically prepping your body to adjust to the timezone ahead of time, so I sleep either 1. at the same time I usually would but in local time or 2. sleep slightly earlier/later, whichever my body will prefer to negotiate. 

Do what makes sense for you! Maybe you're not so sensitive to your surroundings and just need a good pair of headphones and good music. Whatever those things are, figure out what makes you comfortable to that your body is well-rested, and ultimately that you make the most out of your travels!

Happy travels!