Countdown to NAR in Vegas: Prepare for a Long Plane Ride

RISMEDIA, Nov. 10, 2007-With only a few more days left until your departure to NAR’s Annual Convention, many of you will find yourselves preparing for your flight.

In order to ensure a well-prepared and comfortable flight, we’ve compiled the following tips to have a great, fun plane ride.

- Bring chargers for electronics! You don’t want to run out of battery power one hour into the six hour flight! Don’t assume that charging all of your electronics beforehand will work, because your DVD player probably doesn’t have enough battery for a six-hour plane ride, a week-long vacation, and another six-hour plane ride!
- Some good entertainment items are portable video games (DS, PSP), iPods and MP3 players, magnetic “travel” board games, crossword puzzle or sudoku books, a good novel, magazines that interest you.
- Figure out what time it will be in your destination and adjust yourself to the schedule you will need to follow (Example: If you’ll still be sleeping at 6 AM in your destination’s time, try to adjust your inner clock so that you will be sleeping in your time zone when it is 6 AM in your destination’s time).
- Make sure to buy a meal in the airport if they do not serve one during your flight. Most airports have tiny food courts with familiar chains like McDonalds and Taco Bell.
- Right before you go to bed on the night before your trip, it helps to make a list of what you need to take the morning of your departure (Example: any electronics that you charged and their chargers).
- Realistically, you won’t be listening to your iPod for the entirety of a ten-hour flight. So pack more than one source of entertainment.
- Don’t be afraid to pack things at the last minute! There’s nothing wrong with stuffing your bag full.
- Don’t pack unnecessary things. Will you really enjoy your rock collection while you’re on the beach in Hawaii, sightseeing in Los Angeles, in a plane for twelve hours, or even in your hotel room?
- Read the Airline’s magazine (usually in the back pocket of the seat in front of you) for things you can’t use during flight.
- Chew gum so you don’t get the ear pain that always comes with the plane’s landing.
- If you are flying red eye (through the nighttime hours) you should definitely get some sleep if you have activity to do in the morning.
- Buy your own travel pillow in a store in the airport and bring a blanket from home.
- Arrive at the airport early if you want to have a bite to eat, buy a book for the plane, or use the bathroom. Otherwise, you will have to rush through everything in the airport and have an uncomfortable flight.