Travel Tips

Travel Tips.

Be comfortable on a long airplane ride

• Long flights can get quite cold at times. Bring an extra layer of clothing for warmth.

• The dry air in a plane will dehydrate your system. Bring a bottle of water with you on the plane, and request plenty of water from your endlessly accommodating flight attendant. It's also helpful to bring a small bottle of moisturizing lotion for your face and hands.

• Seats next to emergency exits generally have more leg room. Try to request that you get a seat in the emergency exit aisle, unless you are travelling with children, who are not allowed to sit there.

• If you tend to get airsick, bring a small bottle of Ginger Ale and a newspaper in your backpack, since drink service doesn't start right away. The ginger and carbonation will help calm your stomach and so will the smell of the newspaper.

• When you board the plane, change your watch to the destination's time. If when you board it is night at your destination, try to sleep. Then force yourself to stay awake in flight during your destination's daylight hours. Upon arrival try to be outside to see the next sunset or dawn. Each of these things accelerates your acclimation to the new time zone. Light exercise also helps.

• More on comfort travel tips

Pack without overpacking

• Match up just enough outfits for number of days you are going on vacation. Mix and matching outfits gives you a variety of outfits with a smaller number of clothing.

• Get the smallest suitcase possible that will hold the clothes you have set aside and a few other small items.

• Get together your shoes and toiletries, but only allow yourself to pack what fits into the one small suitcase.

• If all else fails, just pack as usual, then take half away.

• Be sure to roll the clothes instead of folding them. With this technique you will have more room left over in your suitcase for other items.

• Try to pack shoes that are neutral colors to match more outfits, so you will not have to pack as many shoes which will lighten up the load of the suitcase.

• Squeeze all the air out of your pack, you'll get lots more room.

• Try to pack shoes that are neutral colors to match more outfits, so you will not have to pack as many shoes which will lighten up the load of the suitcase.

• Take clothing that can be washed in the bathroom sink and will dry overnight.

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How to change planes for a connecting flight

• During the flight, check the magazines in the seat pocket. Often times, those will have maps of the airports that the airline serves. Use those maps to determine where your arriving and departing gates are located, and what path you must take to get from one to the other.

• Determine how much time you have to make it onto the connecting flight.

• Listen closely to the announcements going on as the plane you're on is taxiing to the gate. If there have been any gate changes for your connecting flight, you'll hear them at that time.

• Collect all your carry-on items and take them off the plane with you. Baggage handlers will take care of transferring your checked bags from one plane to another; you do not need to visit Baggage Claim.

• Make sure that the boarding pass for your connecting flight is in your possession.

• After you leave the airplane, you can ask a gate agent to look up your flight. If no gate agent is present, check the monitors for gate information.

• If there is an unreasonably short period of time between your connecting flights, go directly to a ticketing counter to get on standby before all the other people who missed the connection get on the same list.

• If you don't have much time to get to the connecting flight, run.

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Have a great trip from all of us at Sonoma County Airport Express!