Two Things That Make Flying Better (the airplane kind)

Flying is not my favorite. I would much rather drive where I’m going, on my own schedule and not have to worry that I’m going to get left.

When I started skydiving, I started using earplugs a lot. When you are riding up in a jump plane, the noise gets to be too much after a while, and I always wear earplugs in the plane. For me earplugs were a revelation: I started to keep a pair in my toothpaste/toothbrush kit, and they’ve saved my night of sleep several times: most notably when I was bivying under the big tree in El Cap meadow and these noisy little frogs were so loud I couldn’t fall asleep. Earplugs are the best!

Recently I’ve noticed there is a ton of noise on airplanes and even inside airports, from the constant announcements, the buzz of people talking everywhere, and then of course the airplane engines. Now I bring earplugs whenever I fly, and half the time I’m even wearing them in the airport. It seems to make the flight much less tiring. I can still hear everything, just at a more mellow volume.

The other thing I started doing is taking a metal cup with me and some tea bags. I do also bring a water bottle, but sometimes the water from the fountains tastes like chlorine to me. It’s hard to stay hydrated in airports and airplanes. I’ve found to my surprise that every employee at every airport coffee stand I’ve asked at has happily filled my cup with hot water for me: same on the flights. Attendants often get annoyed when you ask to have your whole water bottle filled, but nobody seems to mind filling your cup with hot water. And a nice cup of herbal tea definitely snaps me out of the airport feeling, somehow. And best of all, it’s free and we like free

Just bringing those two things (okay, three if you count the tea bags), completely changes my air travel experience!