10 Best Travel Hacks for Long-Haul flights

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You may wonder how come travelling for some feels so ‘easy’ and to others is a sea of stress. Long-haul destinations are appealing because they seem further away from our day-to-day problems and put in practice the traditional saying of “far from view, far from heart” — at least that’s what most of us want to believe. But the reality is that, to this day, only a few have mastered some of the best travel hacks for long-haul flights and holidays without returning and needing another weekend to recover.

If this feels like you, whether it’s your first time travelling on an 8h+ flight or you have been doing this every year, I think this post will give you some ideas to return feeling like a pro at hacking your way to the other side of the world — quite literally!

The 10 Travel Hacks for long-haul trips came from the back of 5 long-haul flights that I did in the space of 7 months. Mental, right?! Well, I survived, but definitely mastered some practical hacks to make the journey way more enjoyable, beating jet lag, avoiding cramped seats, fatigue, dry cabin air, pressure in ears, and boredom.

In this post, I will go over what to do before, during, and after a trip. The biggest hacks are before and after.

This is my little internet corner. I own MiriamMemoirs, it’s my baby project, and it’s been successful because of people like you — readers, travel planners, and people interested in the world out there. There are a few things that you need to know about the posts I write:

1. Everything is written by me and by me only. The occasional online dictionary is used to correct my spelling mistakes (because English is not my first language), but the way I write is what makes me unique.
2. I only write about my own experiences. I never quite understood how you can have an opinion about something that you haven’t experienced. I mean, yes, you can imagine and put yourself in those shoes, but ultimately, if you haven’t lived it, felt it, or experienced it, you would be talking about something not yours. Therefore, every travel tip, experience, trip, and itinerary that you see at MiriamMemoirs has been lived by me, Miriam, and they are part of my Memoirs, AKA MiriamMemoirs (love how this became a full circle).
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Essential Travel Hacks for Long-Haul Flights

Planning and Booking Hacks

Planning your trip starts a bit before the destination. Somewhere between how to get to destination A and how to make it actually happened.

Timing your flight

Often, destinations will have several airlines flying inbound (incoming to the country/city). This is very important because it gives you choices. Having choices is great, but only when you know what to compare. 

The first and most important rule for flight planning is the time of arrival vs the time zone of the country. Bear in mind that we consider a long-haul flight anything with 5-24h travel time. This is crucial to fight the jet lag. 

If you never felt jet lag, don’t underestimate it. It is real, and can hit you so badly! I personally go a bit nuts on jetlag – sleep is very important and it can very much destroy a couple of days of your trip. 

So what to look for when planning your trip to fight Jet lag? 

I always suggest overnight flights where you land at the destination in their morning time. This helps you regulate your sleep during the flight, feel fresher when you land and ready for some exploring. Skyscanner let’s you select flights based on your preference on time of departure or landing. It’s a great tool to use when selecting the best long-haul flight. 

If you struggle to sleep on flights, landing when it is evening time in the destination will help you “go to sleep” when you arrive. However, the dynamic of leaving an airport and getting into the hotel can leave you overestimulated. You can avoid this by using cancelling noise headphones or ear plugs and organise pick-up from the airport upon arrival – I cover more about sleeping on planes on Seat Strategy.

Seat Strategy

Cramped seats are common on short flights or low-cost airlines, but the reality is that long-haul flights have different standards, and space is one of them. I have flown British Airways, Virgin, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, and many others – the majority in economy class – and I was very impressed with the comfort.

What saved me was how I played with my seat strategy. There are a few ways to guarantee the best seat on a long-haul flight.

Let’s start from the beginning. You have a long-haul flight booked, and it’s time to select your seat. Some airlines give you free seat selection. Recently, some airlines – even on long-haul flights – started to charge to select a seat before check-in. If you are able to select your seat, always go towards the front of the airplane, between rows 1–10 (if they aren’t reserved for first class or business class, or the rows immediately after).

Window or aisle seats?

The popular question. I am a window seat person, but that’s because I sleep for hours on planes.

Window seats are popular if you like the views and resting your head, but for a long-haul flight alone, I would avoid it if you know you can’t sleep well on planes or need to stretch every hour. The window seat can put you in the awkward position of waking up strangers.

P.S. Avoid drinking tea in a window seat – for me, it breaks the seal and makes me go to the toilet constantly. I made this mistake on a 14h flight to China, and it was so awkward…

The aisle seat is great because it gives you flexibility to use the facilities, walk up and down the aisle, and leave quicker. The only con is that you don’t really have a place to rest your head, and if you want to take pictures of landing, you will have to pray that the person on the window seat is a) asleep or b) nice enough to trust them with your phone. I write more about hacks to master the aisle seat in the section Carry-on essentials.

Middle seat: no one wants them, no one selects them consistently. These seats are normally given randomly when you don’t select your seat. The only time they get purchased is if you are flying with someone and you lost the battle of who sits at the window or aisle seat. So, avoid, avoid, avoid – the only perk is… none.

PRO SEAT HACK: If you are flying with another person, pre-book the window seat and aisle seat, leaving the middle seat free. If the flight is not full, no one will select the middle seat (why would they?!). If this works, you get a whole row. Worst-case scenario, if someone selects the middle seat between you (buuuuuhhh), just offer to swap – no one in a middle seat says no to an aisle seat! This is probably one of the best travel hacks I have mastered, and it can be done in any flight really.

Upgrading your seat

The dream of any long-haul frequent traveller is to have enough points, rewards, or money to upgrade their seat. Please don’t judge me, but some of these seats cost a lottttt of cash, and when you are doing a 20-day long-haul trip to Thailand, the price of an upgrade can equal all your accommodation in Koh Samui.

So let’s break it down. How do you fly business or first class without paying all the $$$ at booking? Travel rewards and points. Below I tell you what I have learnt about Travel Rewards and hacks to get some cheaper holidays and upgrades.

Travel Rewards

Seven years ago, I heard about travel rewards, but I thought it was completely inaccessible to me. I learnt that the opposite was true. There are several cards that give you rewards on spending, some in the form of points other in form of cash back. You can read more about best travel cards and points systems here. Ultimately, if you want to read deeper on travel credit cards, Martin Lewis give great advice.

You probably already use a card or credit card for purchases bigger than your weekly coffee. Certain cards offer you points per amount spent. To make it simple: you spend $1, you get 1 point. Once you reach a certain amount, you can exchange them for airline points and exchange them for miles.

If you book a flight with Virgin Airways, and you have an Amex card, you can upgrade your seat using the points you accumulated – even the points earned from booking the flight itself. Bargain, no?

Small tip when getting an Amex: use a referral link for boosting points.

Our most recent long-haul booking

Let me tell you about my trip to South Korea, booked with Amex and Virgin Airways. I accumulated points through work and travel expenses, and when Virgin Atlantic launched a new route, a return flight cost 18,000 points + taxes. I booked two return flights for just $218 total – just over $100 per person.

Pro Tip: To earn a lot of points, you have to spend on the card, but there is a way to get a head start. If you’re interested in Amex rewards points, you can apply here (affiliate link). At the time of writing, Amex is offering 30,000 points when joining.

Another way to upgrade is by monitoring the airline website. Airlines sometimes open bidding systems for business or first-class seats that haven’t sold.

Itinerary Hack 

Long-haul journeys are long. Europe to Asia is around 14 hours, and luckily, many flights include a stopover. There’s a stigma around stopovers – yes, a 5h layover isn’t ideal even if the flights are cheap – but if you have time, why not see another country and break the journey?

Airlines like Etihad, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, and Riyadh Air offer free stopovers of up to 3 days, sometimes including complimentary hotel stays. These must be booked directly with the airline. Read more about it here.

Popular stopover destinations include Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.

When we went to the Philippines, we stopped over in Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific and it was great! We spent 72 hours exploring and broke down a trip that otherwise would be in total 26 hours with a 5 hour layover. Such a great way to break the journey!

Flights searching filters

Ten years ago, you had to rely on airport desks or your local travel agency for flight information. 
Today, tools like Skyscanner offer live data on legroom, entertainment, Wi-Fi, and aircraft details – making flight selection so much easier.

Packing like a pro

When flying long-haul, practicality matters more than ever. You’ll likely have a checked bag and a carry-on, so what should you pack for 5h+ in the air?

Most airlines offer a travel pack. Economy packs usually include a pillow, blanket, and wired headphones. Business and first class add sleepers, skincare, wipes, toothbrushes, and more.

Carry-on essentials

Regardless of trip purpose or seat type, these are my must-haves:

Read more in detail of my carry-on hacks here.

Packing Hacks that save space

Now that we’ve covered the carry-on packing, it’s time to look at the large piece that we check in on a long-haul. Of course, this is different from person to person.

The Plus 1 rule

Packing clothes has always been a struggle for me, and in recent years I have learnt to go very minimal – at least I tell this to myself. The most important thing about clothes is to know more or less the weather conditions of your destination and plan ahead for them.

I found that planning outfits in advance is very helpful; it frees up space from adding tops that you won’t wear. My biggest issue is my collection of swimsuits – I want to wear them all every time there’s an opportunity, even though I only go to the beach 10 days a year. There’s a need to be rational about how many I will actually wear, and this is the same for shoes and dresses. Therefore, I use the rule of Plus 1.

The Plus 1 rule: you pack an outfit + one item from the outfit that you would change or use.
Example: I choose an outfit of shorts and a simple top. I will add another top, and I have 2 outfits for two beach/exploring days.

Packing with cubes

There are several ways to pack a bag, of course, and to be honest, there isn’t a right or wrong way to do it. There are, however, more practical ways to do it. I used to pack my outfits and roll them into my backpacks. When I backpacked from Thailand all the way to Australia, I quickly realised that the rolling technique wasn’t as easy as I used to believe. I wasn’t able to access anything.

After 7 years using packing cubes, I am confident that it is the best way to stay organised and maximise space. I still roll my clothes to have more space, but now I can compress them, take the air out of clothes, and keep them organised by type or by day. Packing with cubes also protects my clothes because the bags are waterproof.

Pro Tip: Good and long-lasting packing cubes aren’t cheap, but they will last you years. Avoid buying the ones with a flimsy zip – with the minimum pressure, they will break, and you will have a piece of material that can go straight to the bin.

Below are my favourite packing cubes:

• Vacuum packing cubes – with mini vacuum. Perfect for backpacking!
• Packing cubes – these packing cubes are ideal for any suitcase, backpack, and travel requirements. I absolutely love them. They have a zip that opens to enlarge the cube and fit more clothes, but when zipping up, you are actually compressing the clothes, reducing air space.

If you don’t want to invest in packing cubes, you can also use normal vacuum bags. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that on your return, you will need to vacuum them again – it has happened to me not having a vacuum cleaner at the property I was staying in!

Toiletries

This one is very simple. If you are travelling with just a carry-on, use small decanters. It is wayyyy cheaper than buying miniature versions of your current products.
If you have a check-in bag or suitcase, you can add bigger-size products. Sometimes this is cheaper because Western brands are imported.

Charging devices hack – my favourite!

In all the blogs and books I read before travelling, there was always mention of the type of adapter you needed. But after going from the UK to Europe, to India, Thailand, China, and Australia, I started to accumulate all different types of adapters, only to then leave them behind and buy new ones. Does this sound familiar? If so, you need to get an all-in-one adaptor.

I currently have 3, but I don’t use one per device. If I travel on my own, I tend to just take one adapter. But if I am travelling with P, we pack an extension cable, so we just need one adaptor, and we charge everything like we normally would.

Final thoughts 

Traveling long-haul doesn’t have to be a test of endurance. After many flights and a few lessons learned the hard way, I’ve refined my carry-on list to the absolute essentials that keep me rested, hydrated, and sane at 35,000 feet.

If you want more travel hacks, packing videos, and behind-the-scenes from my latest adventures find me on instagram at Miriam Memoirs or join me and the community my newsletter below to get my full packing guides and exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox!

Safe travels!

Miri x

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