6 Essentials I Always Bring On Flights
Once I put my carry-on luggage in the overhead bin, I’m not touching it again until landing. So I keep a decently sized personal item (see post here for my review on the Cotopaxi Allpa 28L) that can store extra stuff plus these 6 essentials I never fly without.
Lactaid!
This is a fairly new discovery for me, even though I’m not lactose intolerant. I’ve always just dealt with the pain of a bloated stomach, but Lactaid works wonders (and almost immediately) to alleviate bloat. And I forget every time I’m in pain that it exists after living my whole life without it! Now I carry some with me everywhere, including flights.
3mm Jack Headphones
I have Bluetooth airpods and the original Apple headphones with the lightning port converter that I keep with me on flights. Most airlines now charge money for their headphones and I dislike the quality and fit. So I like to keep mine handy and I never have to worry about batteries running low on Bluetooth headphones. I’ve also seen products where there’s the 3mm jack/bluetooth converter but I’m not sure if those would be reliable.
Burt’s Bees Lip Balm
This was a god send when my seatmate had strong BO. The peppermint helped slightly since I was still masked up, and lucky for me my seatmate’s TV wasn’t working so she got moved to a different seat entirely. But with the dry air in the cabin, I always keep this lip balm on me anyway. I find that Burt’s Bees original beeswax balm is nourishing and long-lasting.
Peppermint Oil Rollerball
I have a little rollerball with pure menthol oil brought from Germany. It’s strong stuff and would have been a much better use than lip balm in situations like described above if I had it with me! My mom swears by this German peppermint oil brand and we make the rollerballs ourselves. Menthol has also been known to relieve nausea and fatigue for me. I haven’t had those symptoms on flights before but I’d rest easy knowing I have my rollerball with me.
Also, peppermint oil triples as an effective mosquito repellent AND relieves heat/itchiness due to sunburn and hives! I can’t get enough of this stuff, plus the breeziness lasts for about 20-30 minutes.
Contacts Case, Solution, and Glasses
This is a 3-for-1 for contacts wearers. My eyes can get dry and if I’m on a long-haul flight, I keep these items with me in case I want to pop out my contacts and take a nap. There’s nothing worse than wanting to take your contacts out but you have nowhere to put them. Many optometrists advise against sleeping or napping with contacts on because there’s no way for your eyes to breathe, so take them off if you’re snoozing!
Breezy Eye Drops
Speaking of dry eyes, I carry around these Japanese eye drops wherever I go, not just on planes. They’re safe to use with contacts and extremely breezy, so they’re very effective at targeting dry eyes. I also have a version for non-contacts.
The 1 Essential I Bring on Long Flights
I think anything longer than 6 hours would be a long flight. And at 2 hours, my butt starts to go rather numb. I barely survived the red eye flight to Taiwan recently, so on the return trip, I made sure to bring a seat cushion! I chose to buy one that had a honeycomb gel structure, so this will not lose its shape over time. I sat on this cushion for over 11 hours and my butt did not hurt once! A huge game changer that I will go through the trouble of lugging around for the comfort.
xx Sam
