Top Travelling tips from those who travel the most….
We know that travelling in a pandemic can be a little nerve racking for some, so we have compiled a list of some of the top tips to travel from those who know best – flight attendants.
- When you’re on the plane, whilst they are said to now deep clean and sanitise the cabin fully between flights, you can’t be too careful in the current times. Make sure to avoid the backseat pockets if you can. I’m sure everyone has at some point stuffed food packing or other rubbish into these, generally these are cleaned out between flights, but not sanitised.
- For extra peace of mind, you could take your own alcohol wipes for the tray table. There’s a high chance this has been used for discarded tissues, items of food debris or even worse: YouTuber and flight attendant Treasure Elise more than once witnessed it used a changing table for a baby. You can also wipe down the arm rests whilst you’re at it?
- A US flight attendant, Jamila Hardwick, advised against drinking teas, coffee and ‘tap water’ on planes. Although it may very well be clean, she says that airline cleanliness regulations are rather relaxed when it comes to on-board water tanks, with them only having to be cleaned 4 times a year irrespective of the use of the aircraft.
- Even outside of the Covid pandemic, flying when not 100% can have an impact. “Avoid flying if you have a severe cold,” a flight attendant with four years’ experience wrote on Quora. “It can damage your eardrums, and you may lose your hearing. It happened to me once — I couldn’t hear properly for a week, and it hurt like hell.” To try and minimise your chances of getting colds from other passengers, you may want to make use of a nasal spray just before boarding.
- Especially on long haul flights, many airlines provide blankets and pillows for the comfort of passengers. Make sure you get a freshly cleaned plastic wrapped one, though. Blankets which are folded on the seat or in the overhead bin have a high chance of already being used. Possibly more than once.
- When you arrive at your hotel you will no doubt be eager to get into your newly cleaned room. One of the most common mishaps when checking into your clean and scrubbed new room, is throwing your suitcase on the bed while you work out how you are going to unpack. Remember! this has been kept in the hold of a plane and been through at least two airports before you have even transferred to the hotel. Maybe keep this on the floor for now?
- Even when hotel rooms are cleaned and scrubbed, things routinely get missed. In an interview with Forbes women, tik-tok flight attendant Kat Kalamani explained that the TV remote in many hotels is left untouched by cleaners the vast majority of the time, so to get round this you can operate it just as well through a plastic screen, such as putting in a sandwich bag for example.
- A problem many of us have, is trying to deal with jet lag when flying slightly further afield. There is all sorts of advice for this, depending on the purpose and length of your trip. A flight attendant who spoke with The Independent said the best way around this is a strict bedtime routine. She suggests no electronics an hour before you want to sleep, a warm drink such as a cup of tea and read a book. Others suggest getting into the local timezone immediately: maybe even as soon as you get on your flight.
We hope that you found this useful, and although some might surprise you, you can never be too cautious when going away. This is why travel insurance is key, as it offers you financial protection and compensation for a wide range of potential issues you may face over the duration of your holiday. We like to think, from before you take off to the moment you get home.
If you’d like to know more? use this link https://eginsurance.co.uk/travel/