10 Ways to Survive a 14hr+ Flight in Economy

1. Find a really addictive TV show on the in-flight entertainment (Or download one before you go!)

On my most recent long leg trip across the Pacific Ocean- flying Houston to Sydney direct (17 hours!). I discovered the TV series Riverdale. Honestly, I hardly noticed the time for the entire flight! The only downside to this one is that you probably won’t sleep on the flight-but it does kill that jetlag when you get to where you’re going!

2. Pack loads of snacks

This one has a 50/50 chance of working. I’m a snacker so this one is really effective for me! I give myself a reward  snack every hour (I know it sounds like I have trained myself like a dog). This way it breaks the flight down into one hour chucks which is much easier to deal with in my head!

3. Word Searches/Sudoku/Crosswords

Self-Explanatory but I like the ones where you win things! This really makes me motivated to actually do them. It also kills time between my hourly sack breaks

4. Talk to the person next to you

This one sounds a bit strange, but you are about to sit next to this person for the next however many hours, it would at least be nice to know their name when you ask them to move so you can go to the bathroom. On my flights I have always had a really decent chat to the people on either side of me, and have learnt some amazing things  along the way. Sometimes you even meet someone who can give you hot tips when you’re on the ground!

When I was on my flight from LAX to Costa Rica, I was seated next t a man who was one of the coordinators of a bank in Costa Rica. He was very concerned about me going there on my own and gave me his phone number and email and said if I got into any trouble to call him and he would help me out. He had 2 daughters and he said that if his daughters ever did something like this, he would want someone looking out for them too.

5. Sleep

This one is a no-brainer. You don’t want to end up at your destination exhausted out of your mind, so try and bring in some shut eye.

6. Download Candy Crush

And jelly crush and soda crush and every other candy crush you can-so that when you run out of lives, you just switch to the others.

Okay, so this bad boy has gotten me through some pretty treacherous and long flights. It might just be me, but I would happily play sorting games for as long as my lives will let me! I definitely use this as a time killer.

7. Pack your phone/device charger AND the power adapter for the country

Because after 3 hours your phone will be dead from all the Candy Crush.

Most modern planes will have a USB port on the in-flight entertainment system for you to charge your small devices. BUT in case you are going super-budget, every plane (including AirAsiaX) has a power point underneath the seat. Usually these power points are in the configuration of the country that you are visiting (ie. US planes have US power points). So plan carefully!

8. Start a countdown timer on your device when the pilot tells you how long you have left

A friend of mine gave me this hot tip and it WORKS! It really satisfies that OCD tendency which sometimes presents itself when I have a countdown timer on.

Most planes now have this in their in-flight entertainment, but if you’re like me and want to save and budget any way you can, those Scoot and Air Asia planes don’t have this function just yet!

9. Bring loads of  reading material about the place you are visiting!

Because, why not?

You’re about to spend however long in an incredible country-why would you not use the down time on the flight to learn as much as you can about the place! If you’re stuck for where to find some stuff like this, check out Lonely Planet and definitely invest in one of these books if you are backpacking solo!

10. Don’t forget to walk around and do stretches!