Just Fill Me In!

May 11th, 2009 | Tags: Travel Tips

Here are some of my travel tips.  Okay so there are alot of “Don’ts” but I have been overseas a few times and have learnt from my mistakes!

1. Do wear comfy clothes. I don’t care where your going, what airport you are in or what class you are flying, if you are going to be on a plane for more than 12 hours trust me, you don’t want to be wearing tight jeans and high heals (ankles swell on long flights and turn into cankles, and sitting in jeans for a long time is not comfy).   Go JLo style even if you have too!  Velour ensemble, Burberry Cashmere, Bonds, Puma whatever.  Just not jeans.  If you are too embarrassed to rock around in your trackies then pack a pair of jeans in your carry to wear at the airport!  Don’t wear heals, but do wear closed in toe shoes.  Okay it sounds silly but closed in toes will hide your swollen feet.  And by wearing your closed in toe babies you will be able to get away with wearing extremely dorky flight socks – which prevent cankles.

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2.  Don’t wear fake tan. Never wear fake tan on an overseas flight, even if you are going to some where tropical and you are currently in mighty whitey season.  Fake tan naturally dries your skin out.  Fake tan on your face, on a plane that is drying your skin out equals double dryness.  One time on a flight to London when I tanned it up for summer, my skin was drying up like a bitch, even after smearing my face with an entire tube of paw paw and using the complementary moisturiser in the aeroplane toilet.  When I landed in Dubai to change flights, the tan had half warn off, settled into my pores which gave the appearance of little splinters in my face.  It was uncomfortable, embarrassing, and awful.

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3. Don’t wear makeup. Well heavy makeup anyway.  Especially a heavy smokey eye, because by the end of the flight you will be looking like a panda.  Even when your tiny bit of mascara wears off, it aways settles under your eyes making you look like you have just been to a service for Ash Wednesday.  Also if your foundation dries your skin out, don’t wear it! (see tip no.2) Pack some makeup wipes in your carry on though, to freshen your face up between flights.

Image Source: MAC

4.  Don’t take anything over 100mls in your carry on. This sounds stupid and you probably already knew this, but you can so easily grab a perfume or giant Evian in your carry on – like I did when flying intra Europe.  “Sorry, but that 1.5 L Evian is over 100 mls, you either have to drink it now or throw it out” ummm I threw it out.  You can buy perfume, alcohol etc at airports (its so tempting when its Duty Free) but they stick a sticker on it that shows you brought it in the air port, and pop it in a special bag so its all okay to take on board.

5.  Don’t wear perfume on a plane. If you wear perfume on a plane, you will get sick of the smell.  12 hours after smelling your perfume on yourself, sitting on a stuffy plane, a screaming baby on your left and a vomiting passenger on your right – and all you can smell is your perfume.  Not only will it make you feel slightly sick, every time you spray that perfume on yourself again it will remind you of that horrible flight – and you will be sick of the smell.  My advice is to buy a perfume when you land.  Not only will it be Duty Free, but every time you smell it, it will remind you of your fabulous holiday.

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6.  Do pack an eye mask, earplugs and a blow up neck pillow in your carry on. They really help you sleep.   Not all airlines give you a freebie eye mask, your going to need the earplugs to block out the screaming baby and the neck pillow will prevent you from falling asleep on the shoulder of the fat man sitting next to you.

Image Source: SeenOn

7.  Don’t expect – anything. Don’t expect that there will be a shower cap in your hotel room!  Don’t expect that you will be able to buy suncream in Rome! Don’t expect you will be able to buy hair tyes in London! These are a few things that I did expect.  Yes you could buy suncream in Rome! SPF 2+ is all I could find.  I found an SPF 40+ , 100mls at the price of €17.50.  That converts to about $30 AUS.   I thought of course you can buy hair ties in London! All I wanted was a pack of thin, brown, Lady Jayne Hair ties.  5 pharmacies later and I gave up.  All I could find was these extremely thick black hair tyes, so thick, they could have been mistaken for car tyres.  So my advice is, if its something that you really need and use daily, pack it, because you might not be able to buy that certain thing when you are over there…

8.  Do brush up on your History. You will appreciate the monuments you are seeing.  I was blown away at the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, as I studied Ancient Egypt in school a few years before.  Whereas in Rome, I had forgotten alot of my Roman History and didn’t appreciate how old the monuments where and how hard it would have been to built.  I still enjoyed myself but if you know your facts it makes the trip alot more interesting and mesmerizing.

9.  Do try and learn a little language. Im not expecting you to be fluent, but if you learn a little “hello how are you” it makes the trip so much more fun!

10.  Do relax and have fun! Don’t stress about sending postcards or buying gifts for friends – this is your holiday, take you time and enjoy yourself. 

Image Source: WWD