International travel seems to have somehow gotten even worse after Covid. Here are my tips for navigating it with as little friction as possible. Most of my trips happen around Asia from Singapore’s Changi airport, which truly is one of the best in the world. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live.
Logistics
- Pick an alliance that covers the countries you fly to most frequently and get to gold status as soon as possible
- That gets you access to lounges with decent food and seating which makes all the time spent waiting at the airports much more tolerable and productive
- Some airports also have showers, which is a godsend before a red-eye
- Avoid checking in luggage, that will help you move in and out of the airport much faster
- QR code boarding passes seem to be more hassle than they’re worth, just print all boarding passes from a self-serve kiosk when you get to the airport, fold them in half and carry them inside your passport
- I find that vegetarian food tastes better in the air, so I opt for vegetarian/vegan meals. This has two side effects you should consider:
- You’ll end up eating before your fellow passengers as the staff tends to handle special orders first
- But your tray will be cleaned with the rest of the cabin, so it will sit there for a while
- If I can, I eat in the lounge and skip the in-flight meal altogether
Gear
- Carry-on - Travelpro Platinum Elite 21” Expandable Spinner - Wirecutter’s pick and for once I have to agree with them, I can pack for a week with room to spare and the magnetic wheels are amazing. Travelpro also has great support in case you eventually end up needing spare parts.
- Laptop backpack - Bellroy Apex Backpack - expensive and probably not entirely worth the cost, but I like it. It packs flat when you don’t need the space and can expand when you do, plus it fits a 16” MacBook Pro. Great support as well.
- Passport case - Bellroy Apex Passport Cover - similarly expensive, but the small pen is ingenious, it fits folded boarding passes and any other paperwork you may need and the magnetic closure is a nice touch.
- Toiletries
- Small Wash Pouch by Peak Design; small and sturdy, plus their lifetime warranty really works.
- For shaving, I recommend going wet (less weight) with MACH3 blades (easy to get, cheap, work just as well as 5-blades) with a blade case.
- There are no decent travel electric toothbrushes. Either get a regular electric one or a manual one. The travel electric ones are all weak.
- Powerbank - Nitecore NB10000 GEN2 - 10000mAh, super small, no nonsense.
- Headphones - AirPods Pro 2 - I used to carry over-ear headphones, but they take up a lot of space and the 2nd gen AirPods Pro have amazing noise cancellation.
- Cables - any short (30cm) USB-A to USB-C power-only cable to charge devices on the plane.
- Ear plugs - Mack’s Slim Fit Ear Plugs - comfortable, quiet, easy to get
- Flight tracking apps - I use TripIt to pull data from my company’s travel booking system. Then I use Flighty on actual flights because it can pull data from TripIt and its UI is so much better than TripIt’s. I just wish Flighty had an Apple Watch app.
Jetlag
- No good solutions I’m afraid.
- I tend to change my watch to the timezone of my destination the moment I board the plane, then I try to eat and sleep in that timezone’s appropriate times.
- When I can’t sleep after arrival, listening to NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest) helps me get some rest so I can focus the next day.
