How to survive the long trip to LOS

[bbb2k2]

I guess many board members are from Europe and the States and spend 10+ hours plane trips to get to Thailand.

How do other BM's make that trip as comfortable as possible? Of course sleeping the whole trip would be best, but if you cannot sleep what do you do and how do you prepare?

For me the trip is about 18-20 hours from I leave my home until I arrive in BKK or Pattaya.

Get to airport - 0.5 hour
Checkin/Security - 2 hours
Flight #1 - 1 hour
Wait for next flight - 1 hour
Flight #2 - 10-11 hours
Luggage/Customs - 1 hour
Taxi - 1-2 hours

I really hate to be bored so I bring way to much stuff to keep me occupied. How do you other guys survive this long trip?

[bangkoksins]

Choose a good airline. One where you can stop and start the movies.

If you like music then load your MP3 player and buy noise reduction headsets (Sennheiser are good).

Do not drink alcohol, only water.

[Ladyboy_Loser!]

As I am about to return tomorrow night to sort out things with my attorney I can only offer my personal experiances for a long flight from San Francisco. I always the overnight flight, I never eat a meal on the plane nor drink any alcohol. I eat about three hours before flight time at my home. When I get comfortable in my seat I take out a book and start to read for about two hours. By then my eyes are about to close. I hit the toilet, drain the lizard and take an Ambien Cr 12mg. Within thirty minutes I am out light a light for seven hours. When I wake up, off to the toilet to refresh myself. I do eat the yogurt and the fruit cup for breakfast along with some green tea. On my layover in Taipai I head for the Business Class Lounge for a real meal and some relaxing. By the time I arrive in Bangkok, it's 11:15 or so and I am relaxed, refreshed, no jet lag and ready to go.

[PigDogg]

Be proactive about getting  a good seat.   Bulkheads often have extra legroom.  Row 44 on the Thai non-stop is great.  For the return trip suggest to a Thailand travelagent that you'll give them 500 baht if they can score row 44 for you.  Some have special connections.

I getto the airport early and try to snag an emergency exit row or the best seat available.  I find out how full the flight is.  No problem for me getting to BKK airport early.  They have massage for 600 baht/hr to kill time.

If the flight is relatively empty I try to snag a four across. before takeoff.  These tend to be near the rear of the plane.

Flight attendents always say OK.
If I get the four across as soon as the seat belt light goes off, up goes the armrest and I sprawl out on all 4 seats.

Video on demand makes a big difference.  So Thai and Sing really work for me.  Anyone know if  United has that yet?

I get aisle seats and walk around quite a bit.

I always fly economy.  I have better ways to spend my baht.  

[stogie bear]

I never get bored. In fact I bring stuff like music, movies and books thinking I will but end up having good long thinks...

[bk120]

especially when I know in 17hrs. the party starts

[Naang Faa]

I like Flying Emirates,always do,they have an Entertainment system on board
called "ICE"..
Lots of New Movies,Classic Movies,games,quiz blah,blah,blah..
and if i get bored i just like to freak out the person sitting next to me..

x

[Snick]

I bring neck pillow, 2+ books, music, movies for laptop, extra battery, NyQuil and, of course, one hard core porn movie -- just in case I don't like the person sitting next to me.

[bbb2k2]

(Snick @ Jan. 21 2008,21:34) one hard core porn movie -- just in case I don't like the person sitting next to me.

Haha, classic!

Thanks for the advice guys.

On next trip I will bring:

- laptop for work/movies/e-books,
- iphone for music/audiobooks,
- PSP/Nintendo DS for games,
- Sennheiser 450 headset (noise reduction)
- some thai sleeping pills I picked up last year
- neck pillow and something to cover my eyes, not sure what it is called, but you look rather stupid when you use them
- Archos 705 160gb movie player for movies/tv series

I only fly economy, but this next trip I will fly economy to LOS and then business class home, just to see if it's worth it for such a long flight. Going to LOS I'm always excited and even sitting in the middle of two danish cows can't ruin my mood

The advice about getting the right seat is very important I think. I always try to get the seats by the emergency exits but it seems kinda random if they are available, and according to Thai they cannot be reserved online due to some law saying they need to visually make sure the person sitting there is not disabled in anyway.

My flights out of Scandinavia with Thai are almost always full so no chance to have several seats I don't think I have ever seen a spare seat in economy class.

I just started listening to audiobooks last year, and this is something I can recommend others that read books.

[katoeylover]

(bbb2k2 @ Jan. 21 2008,15:44) I only fly economy, but this next trip I will fly economy to LOS and then business class home, just to see if it's worth it for such a long flight.

I fly business, and now i am ruined!!

However it is well worth it IMHO

[mardhi]

I was spoilt when working for a big multinational - never yet flown coach on a long haul flight and never intend to start down that track. To me its at the front or just dont go.

However even when I did start loads of LH flying circa 12 years ago, I used to always carry my cd player and copious amounts of discs. Of course these are not needed anymore and many airlines have 'on demand' music and movies which makes LH flying so much easier, but to me at least, the space is the key priority and if your in coach, Thai is still the best legroom at average 34" of space versus BA/QF etc at 31" - Emirates has good entertainment, but they squeeze 10 seats across when other airlines just put 9.

Choose wisely

Cheers
mardhi

[rxpharm]

The thing to cover your eyes is called a sleep mask - very handy to have even though it looks stupid!

Something else handy to have are earplugs for the times you don't use your noise canceling head phones (or the batteries go dead) and there is a screaming baby in your section of economy.

The sleeping pill comes in handy, but don't over use them. Sleeping pills inhibit REM (random eye movement) sleep, which is the phase of sleep that recharges your brain. You may get several hours of sleep, but you won't feel refreshed over the long term if you keep using sleeping pills.

[PigDogg]

(PigDogg @ Jan. 20 2008,21:32)  Row 44 on the Thai non-stop is great.  

Just to clarify this is on the JFK-BKK route.

Could be a different plane or configuartion on European routes.

[Midget]

Question to bbb2k2:

- some thai sleeping pills I picked up last year

Which ones can you get in Thailand ?

By the way, I take it you are Danish, just like me.

[bbb2k2]

Howdy Midget,

The sleeping pills I use are Atarax and I guess they are not Thai specific, they just had Thai written on the one side and Atarax on the other side They work pretty good for me at least.

I'm almost danish... We used to be danish until 1814, but now we're an independent country a bit north of Denmark.

I just got my ticket today in the mail. $2400 for eco to LOS and business home. About twice the price of the cheapest trip I found. Will be interesting to see if it's worth it. $1200 buys you LOTS of pussy and hot LB's...

Cannot wait to get back. Just 4 weeks left now.