Do you ever feel like crap when you hop off of a flight? All that energy you mustered to get your shit together that morning (or evening) went out the window like that? Ever feel like you’ve been licking cotton balls and have sand for spit once you land? What about feeling all stiff and cramped once you finally stretch to disembark? Yeah, that’s jetlag, muscle cramping, and the dehydration that flying inevitably causes.
Thanks to my mama’s constitution and bodily composition, unless something all-natural is happening to me, my body is pretty much high maintenance. I can hike, and camp for days and hours, but once it comes to flying, my ankles swell, butt hurts, and my mouth feels dry. It’s funny that I enjoy travel so much, writing and experiencing it yet, the process of flying often wreaks havoc on my body, or well, it did before I started developing these travel hacks to make me feel ready to go once that plane hit the tarmac. Today, I’ll share them with you, because flying could being doing that to you too!
My Top 5 Wellness Travel Hacks
1. Pack a tennis ball.
No, it’s not a substitute for a fidget spinner, it’s to help you stretch and roll out mid-flight! Sitting for extended periods of time not only gives you a wide butt, but it wreaks havoc on your body and circulation. Roll it under your feet, (make sure them thangs are smell-free first for the sake of your seat-mate,) across your shoulders, put it in back of you to get a quick back massage, roll it across your calves, and I usually secretly sit on mine too, lol. If you have a mini massager this works too. For me, this hack is a necessary one, especially for those long haul flights that I enjoy so much. Trust me, after you try this once, you’ll be carrying balls with you forever. 😉
2. Bring a reusable water bottle.
No, it’s not just your imagination that your mouth is dry as the Sahara once you’ve land, flying and cabin conditions create inevitable dehydration. While drinking cocktails on flight is fun, I try to limit it because well, I don’t want dry skin or cotton mouth. My hack? I bring a reusable (a liter, BPA free) water bottle with me on the flights. When I get to the airport, I’ll go to Starbucks and have them fill it with ice and water and that lasts me until mid flight, then I get the steward or stewardess to fill it up for me again. Now I know in-cabin water quality isn’t the greatest, so one of my hacks in a hack, is to throw a charcoal stick that purifies my water in the bottle before I leave the house. I know what you’re thinking. It sounds cheap as hell, and you’ll feel funny asking folks to fill your bottle. But look at it this way, using a reusable water bottle decreases your carbon footprint, AND saves you from buying a $7 bottle of water at the airport, AND keeps you nicely hydrated. The best benefit is not feeling parched when you land. NOTE: Do not bring your water bottle already filled to the airport because, TSA.
3. Meditate, relax, release.
Yes, listening to music is usually the flight activity of choice for most folks, but I’ve found the best way for me to get an inflight snooze is to meditate as the flight is taking off! How do I do this with the white noise of an engine whirring, folks hackin’ and coughin’, babies crying and such? I use meditation apps that have peaceful and relaxing music. I set my intention in my mind, like, “Take yo ass to sleep, take yo ass to sleep.” Just kidding, more like, “Relax, and recharge so you can kill the day.” I understand the point of meditation isn’t to go to sleep, but once your mind can relax and focus, at least for me, it leads me to lala land, unless it’s the morning. My favorite apps are Calm and Headspace. Try them out and let me know what you think.
4. Bring face wipes and or facial spray.
Like I mentioned above, flying dehydrates your skin. To combat that inflight dryness and just to have a general refresh before I get off of the plane (especially if I’m meeting bae and want to look all dewey), I use SheaMoisture Peace Rose Facial Cleansing Wipes, then spritz my face with Mario Badescu Aloe, Herbs, and Rosewater face spray. If I have on makeup (I honestly usually don’t fly with makeup on, but for my ladies and gents who love to have that face beat on the plane) I’ll just spray my face, and use the wipes on my décolletage. This process rehydrates my skin, cleanses it a bit, and gives it a glow. You can do this from your seat or hit the bathroom right before you know you’re about to land. Of course these brands are just my recommendations. Use your favorite facial cleansing wipes and face spray, just make sure you bring it!
5. Bring a portable battery charger.
Don’t you hate arriving to your destination with a 5% battery charge? Then you’re sweatin’ wondering if you’ll have enough power to meet your pickup or call a damn Uber? I know I did. While the seats I sit in usually have an outlet in front of them, to be honest half the time they don’t work for some odd reason. After experiencing this a couple times, I went to the store and copped a portable battery charger. You can safely use it inflight, the steward, or stewardess won’t tell you to unplug it, and you can have that sweet above 70% charge when you hit the ground. My favorite is the Belkin Pocket Power charger. It charges my phone quickly, you can charge two devices at once, and it charges up to three times without having to charge the device itself. How is this travel wellness you ask? Well, no more stressing about your phone charge, on less thing to worry about right?
I have a ton more hacks, but I decided to break it down to my top five. Have some faves I haven’t listed? Let me know!
Xx,
Extra Extra:
Looking for somewhere luxurious and dope to test out your new travel hacks? Check out Katikies Hotel in Santorini, Greece. Thank me later.
