From going over the best beauty products for travel to answering to questions such as if you should wear makeup when flying, I share all my in-flight beauty essentials on how to stay refreshed after a long haul flight and to look good getting off a plane.
From Flight to Delight
Transform your next long-haul trip into a real pleasure with these 7 helpful in-flight tricks!
If there is anything about traveling on a constant basis that can get tiring very quickly is the flying factor, and especially the dire long-haul flights.
I am not talking about the fear of flying that many people face, nor the so dreadful packing that comes before or the (even worse) compulsory unpacking after.
No. What I mean is the jam-packed flights filled with strangers with questionable habits (and sometimes smells); that horrible feeling of being dirty, with smelly clothes that you’ve been wearing since earlier that day and that you can’t wait to get out from; and worse, not being able to get some decent sleep since everything around you seems so damn small.
This is all extremely tiring and when you travel a lot as we do, flying quickly becomes the most exhausting part of any trip.
Luckily, along these many years, I’ve picked up many tricks on the go to make these flights not only bearable, but a true delight.
From specific skincare hacks, to how to sleep with more comfort, here are 7 super easy things I do that help me survive these painstaking flights.
These are all valuable hacks and trips that I religiously follow myself and want to share so that your next long-haul flight becomes a true delight to you too.
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In-flight beauty kit
This to me is number one simply because, if you know me at all, you will soon realize how obsessed I am with my beauty care and skin care products in general (this year I only got face cremes to my birthday and Christmas from my friends and from Cris).
I’ve written a great post specifically on easy tips that help you fly and land looking your absolute best when traveling long-haul flights.
Here on the other hand, I want to bring out the importance of having a well-organized beauty bag to carry-on with you for convenience. At first, I kept forgetting to put all the essentials together and of course when inside the flight, I would get too lazy to look for them.
Another rookie mistake I did, was to put them inside the carry-on, as opposed to directly inside my handbag just before boarding. These small tips are sure to help your motivation on removing your makeup and applying some much-needed hydrating cremes.
What I Always Bring in my In-Flight Essentials Bag
- Face wash (Effaclar Micellar Water for Oily Skin)
- A face mist for quick and easy face hydration – Can be used even on top of makeup and on your hair (Caudalie’s Grape Water is my personal favorite for years now, I love the smell).
- Essential oils – Since I started doing the Korean Beauty Care I cannot go anywhere without my face oils (Kiehl’s Day/Midnight Recovery Concentrate);
- Eye creme – I don’t go one single day without applying eye creme and I started as soon as I turned 25. If you haven’t started applying eye cremes yet, I urge you to do yourself a HUGE favor and start applying some from today. As we say in Brazil, it is best to prevent, than to medicate (I am currently using Avene’s Soothing Eye Contour Creme, as it also helps with puffy eyes – win-win);
- Hydrating Creme
- Lip balm; eye drops and toothbrush and toothpaste
The routine
- Right after enjoying your dinner, add some facewash to the cotton and remove makeup thoroughly.
- Apply a daze of micellar water and let it on until it is fully absorbed by your skin and dries.
- Apply 3 drops of essential oil to your palm and spread it around your face.
- Follow with the eye crème, face crème, and lip balm.
- Apply eye drops when feeling eyes dry (I recommend just before landing).
Pro Tip
Pro Tip # 1 Don’t forget cotton pads, being as if you don’t have them, you can’t go past step 1 and the whole beauty routine is a fail. Trust me, this has happened to me more than once (and I hate myself EVERY TIME it happens).
Pro Tip # 2 Bear in mind to always bring your toiletries in travel-sized units. It has recently happened to my mother that she had to toss away her newly purchased Avene Face Mist because it was over 100ml. It always breaks my heart to have to toss my precious newly acquired products away. Avoid this mistake and come prepared with your toiletries bag!!
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Pack a big pillow
Or one of those neck holders. They look derpy, but once you start wearing those and realize how much better you are, you start not caring for how they look. Plus, if you are a fun personality, you can spice things up by buying the kiwi/doughnut styled ones and share a laugh with your inflight companions.
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Bring a poncho, a big scarf, and woolen socks
Comfort-on-board starts with how cozy you feel. There is nothing worse than flying and trying to fall asleep but having your feet cold, while barely being able to cover yourself with those tiny little blankets they give out on-board. The struggle is real.
That is why bringing an over-sized scarf can help in numerous ways: from becoming an extra-blanket to extra lower back support, an extra fluff to your pillow, or even to wrap it around your head and hide from the light in case you’ve forgotten a sleeping mask.
The uses for a scarf inside a plane seem endless.
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Noise-cancelling headphones / earplugs / eye mask
Whatever it takes to keep you isolated from the ‘’others’’.
Turn off the sound and light distractions and you will see how better off you will sleep. I can’t travel without my Bose noise canceling headphones and I’ve been using them for years now. It has completely reshaped my travel experience because it also relaxes me as it cuts down all the distracting engine noises.
I like the brand so much, that I’ve recently acquired a Bose Bluetooth sports speakers for Christmas (I bought them for Cris, but decided to buy a pair for myself as well in the end teehee).
Even though they are easier to carry on travels due to its palm-shaped size, they depend on Bluetooth to function. Since most planes still don’t offer Bluetooth option for their in-flight movies, you will either have to watch something on your phone, or it is best to bring a noise-canceling headphone with wires.
On that note, however, some people find it a bit hard to sleep wearing headphones. That is why an amazing option is a disposable earplug most planes hand out to passengers. Give them a try if you haven’t yet and you will be surprised in how much they can help your in-flight sleep comfort.
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Your Wardrobe
Wear Comfy Clothes (leave the jeans home or inside your suitcase).
Bring a change of clothes (and I also mean underwear). Don’t overthink this. Just an extra shirt and underwear can go a loooooong way, especially when sitting on a 10h+ journey.
Pro Tip for the Ladies
Instead of wearing a bra (which can get very uncomfortable at the back), try and switch for those vests/braletts that do not have a clip in the back.
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Get distracted!!
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Kindle (even a book/magazine, if you’re feeling old schooled)
By utilizing means such as video streaming or listening to music once inside a plane, you can also relax and distract yourself if you feel uneasy when flying. Being scared inside a plane is mostly psychological, as we tend to focus on engine noises and turbulence feelings that tend to make us feel uneasy. I’ve written another post on 6 other efficient ways to help you cope with your fear of flying here.
Pro tip
Pre-download everything from home. Start downloading now so you don’t have to be co-dependent on the terrible free airport wifi.
7. In-flight pharmacy
Everyone has their essentials (in my case I must have my allergy pills on me, as well as the baby pills. I also never travel without a nausea pill, that I mostly use to help me sleep as it makes me very drowsy. It is also smart to take something for an unforeseen tummy ache and head pain.
As I am not a doctor, I will not give specific recommendations on any type of medication to use, but I do recommend wet wipes to be added to that bag of essentials.
And That’s a Wrap!!
PS – These are tips I use mostly when I travel by plane, as it is the most common way of transportation I use. But as these are all extremely practical hacks, they can be easily also be used for trains, long bus rides, car rides… Basically, any mode of transportation on which you wish to have a pleasant journey.
Great job with the blog! Amazing to have learnt so much so quickly!! I’m working hard on my grave blog and seem to have hit a wall.
Hi there, thank you so much for your kind words of support. It is a constant learning curve. I’ve bought so many courses and spent more times reading articles on Pinterest than I like to admit. Let me know if you ever have any specific question. I will be happy to help you out in whatever way I can.