How to Survive a Long Travel Day

I’M IN SOUTH AMERICA!! 

This is a continent I’ve never been to before! To get here we had four days of travel from the Philippines and yes, it was just as exhausting as it sounds. Here’s the break down of how we got to Argentina:

-4 hour flight from the Philippines to South Korea

-20 hour layover where we got to explore the city of Seoul 

-11 hour flight to Australia

-4 hour flight to New Zealand 

-another 11 hour flight to Chile 

-Stayed the night in Santiago 

-8 hour bus ride to Mendoza, Argentina where we are staying for the month.

 

It sounds like absolute madness because it was. However, since I’ve been on the race for over 7 months now I’ve learned a few things that make my long travel days not so bad. Hopefully you can get good use out of them too! 

 

SLEEPING 

1. I always laughed at people with the eye masks. I now own one. They are great for when you’re on a bus and the street lights outside are constantly flashing in your eyes as you drive by them.
2. Anyone who sleeps on their stomach like me knows that sleeping upright in a chair is impossible. Therefore, planes are the worst. The best way I’ve found to sleep on a plane is to pull the tray table down, take out my pillow, and try to sleep folded in half. It usually works pretty good! 
3. I always carry Melatonin with me on travel days to help me get to sleep as well. 
4. I have a travel pillow that rolls up and a packable down blanket that I clip to the outside of my day pack. They are life savers.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

1. Airplane movies are the best! They always seem to have at least three newish releases I’ve never seen before and they occupy a lot of my time. 
2. I have two sets of headphones. One for my phone that has the iPhone plug on the end. And the second is one with a normal headphone plug on the end. This has been more valuable to me than I expected. Airplane head phones are, for lack of a better word, poop. So to be able to have a set of headphones I like and can actually hear out of to watch my airplane movies with has been really great! 
3. Download all the things!! Netflix shows, podcasts, songs, books, games. All the things. 
4. Planes are a great time and place to journal! Especially if I’m going on a trip, I like to keep a one and planes are much better than cars for writing. 

 

HYGIENE 

1. Some airports have places you can take showers. Seek them out. Use them. No one likes a smelly seat-mate . 
2. I bring all my normal toiletries with me so I can brush my teeth, put on deodorant, etc. 
3. I always have a change of clothes. Putting on a fresh set of clothes automatically makes me feel better. 
4. I have these face cleaning wipes made by Clearasil that are super useful for when you want to wash your face but can’t!

 

SNACK-BAG

That’s right. Besides my day pack I carry around a separate bag specifically for food. 

1. Water. AFTER I get through security I find a place to fill up my water bottle cause 3 four ounce cups of water in 11 hours is not enough. And let’s be real, I don’t ever order water anyways. 
2. Somehow in all the times I’ve flown before the race I never realized you could take food through security. Guess what? You can! Also, airport food is expensive. Get you a snack bag. 
3. It never fails, no matter how long our bus ride is, I always crave some potato chips. Everyone knows a road trip is better with snacks. Also, Pringle’s are great cause they don’t get squished in their can.

 

I’m sure there’s even more things I can’t remember! Feel free to comment some of your own travel day hacks! I’d love to hear them!