Free Travel Tips: Air Travel

Travel Tips: Air Travel

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Dry Air on the Plane

- If the air gets too dry in the plane, wet some paper towels and breathe through the wet towels.
Simin Wang ID40

Essentials for Carry-On

- Traveling nowadays is a hassle, especially with all the new restrictions on liquids in carry-ons, so for toiletries in my carry-on, I always pack the following.

A bar of soap (it works the same as body wash)
Toothpaste (sample size)
Petroleum jelly (travel or purse size)
Hand sanitizer (travel)
Small liquid make up (mascara, liquid eyeliner, etc.)
Nasal spray and earache relief
Travel Kleenex
A small role of toilet paper that can be purchased at camping goods stores
Toothbrush AND dental floss
Travel mouthwash
Travel first-aid kit
Facial wipes (facial cleanser often leaks on the airplane)
Antibacterial wipes such as Wet Ones
All prescription and over the counter medication (including pain relief)
Aloe vera gel
Moisturizer (in travel size)
Deodorant (travel size)
2-in-1 sample size shampoo and conditioner
Brush, comb, hair elastics, etc.
Make-up (small amounts)

All of these items, when bought in travel size, will often fit into a small carry-on toiletry bag. I never fly anywhere without them. These items work not only when your luggage gets lost, but also during the flight.
Kam ID2079

Evian Spray

- Evian spray - the greatest invention ever for air travel! Great way to freshen up and moisturize your skin. Especially useful if your nose feels so dry that it hurts.
Cindy Tang ID1200

Fear of Flying?

- Most people have a fear of heights. This is a reasonable survival trait! However, when coupled with extreme media coverage of disasters, this can lead to very debilitating fear of flying. Furthermore, for many people, not having any control of the plane makes the fear worse. This is not unlike how one usually worries more as a passenger in a car than as a driver of a car. This is not necessarily a rational fear, if looked at in the context of all possible hazards. There are far fewer fatalities per airline passenger-mile than there are per automobile driver-mile. This is probably due in part to the fact that someone else is doing the driving, and that someone else has been extremely well trained, is not tired, is not drunk, and has a backup in case he or she spills coffee in his or her lap.

Knowing a little bit about aerodynamics can sometimes reduce your anxiety. Despite what we all learned from watching Saturday morning cartoons, you do not hang in the air until you look down, you can not run into and become part of a painting, and, in particular, you do not go straight down the moment you run out of speed. Cartoon Laws Of Motion do not apply in The Real World.

Even if airplanes flew like bricks, the plane would cover quite a few horizontal miles were it to fall. But planes are not bricks, they are sideways sails. Lift is generated by the forward motion of the plane, so the plane does not even fall as fast as a brick. In the time that it takes for the airplane to get to the ground, the pilots have quite a bit of time to search around for a convenient highway to land on. Captain Tom Bunn, who is both an airline captain and a licensed therapist, tells me that a 747 at cruising altitude that lost all power to all engines would have about 132 miles to find a suitable road on which to make an emergency landing. Captain Bunn is president of SOAR, which counsels people with fear of flying.

(A friend of mine swears that the way to conquer fear of flying is to take soaring or hang-gliding lessons so you can feel the force of the lift. Windsurfing might also help.)

Furthermore, commercial jets always have at least two (and usually three) engines. The chances of two failing simultaneously are very, very slim. So relax.

Personally, I lost all fear of flying after living close to an airport for a few years. The airplanes kept going up and they kept landing. They kept going up, and they kept landing. Over and over and over again, hundreds of times per day. And never once did a plane crash at that airport. This made me understand at a very visceral level just how safe air travel is.

If all this logic doesn't help you, join the ranks of thousands and do what they do: get drunk before you get on the plane! (Note: I got some pretty irate email from an airline steward complaining about how awful drunkards were to deal with on the plane. If you aren't a happy drunk, booze might not be the best relaxant.)
Tim Matthews ID1538

Find the Least Expensive Car Parking at Airports

- Recently we decided to take a week's holiday in Southern Ireland (very good BTW). The thing is, we managed to get a good deal on our flights with a low cost airline from Manchester Airport. When we went online to the Manchester Airport website to look for a parking place for one week, we found that we would be paying MORE for our parking than we did for the airline tickets ... which is crazy ! My wife searched online for an hour or so and eventually found a website which compares airport parking prices. The upshot of this was that we managed to save more than 50% on what we were quoted from the official Manchester Airport website. Our tip is this ... definitely take time to shop around, even if it takes a while - it will be worth it. I mean, who would want to pay more for parking their car than for their flight!

Here is the website we found: UK Airport Car Parking Comparison Site.
Chris ID2195

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