Long-Haul Flights

Every trip begins (and ends) with a flight so it seems fitting to address long-haul flights as one of our first posts.  This won't be trip specific but we do get a lot of questions about it so it is worth discussing.  I know from talking to people that one reason many do not ever leave North America or even the United States itself is the dread that 7-15 hour flights instill in people.  I will admit that one of the big reasons Trista and I traveled relatively close to home for so long was fear of long-haul flights. Don't make that mistake.

Are long-haul flights fun?  No.  But they truthfully aren't that bad.  And once you have done a few of them they no longer seem like the daunting hurdle that they once were.  We have only flown the cheapest level of coach and so I can't comment on business or first class seats but lets discuss some ways that intercontinental flights are different from your domestic or regional flights:

Seats.  Are they that much different?  Well not really.  The biggest differences are that your seat reclines slightly farther than a normal flight (usually not always and we are talking an inch or two more) and on some planes it seems like you have slightly more legroom (again think an inch or two).  There are configurations of the 777 that have 2 seats on each side with 5 or so seats in the middle that I highly recommend booking the 2 seats on the side if you are traveling with someone.  It at least feels like you have significantly more room.

Onboard entertainment.  Always free from my experience (possibly not on the most discount level airlines) and usually pretty extensive catalogs.  One flight I remember watching Sound of Music, It's a Wonderful Life as well as new releases.  There is a wide variety of movies, TV shows, music and a selection of crappy games that are mostly just good for laughing at how bad they are.

Meals/Alcohol.  This is the biggest difference between airlines in my opinion and where you need to be careful if you care about this when traveling abroad.  On Delta and Qatar Airways it was essentially open bar (free) and meals (also free) seemed to be served about ever 4-5 hours.  The food was actually decent on both for airplane food.  Specifically Qatar Airways had several different menu choices for each meal including all kinds of middle eastern food. On Iceland Air (and probably most discount airlines I would guess) nothing was included besides water/soda/juice/coffee.  They did have food and alcohol for sale at the usual airline prices.

Price.  Yes traveling to a different continent will likely be more expensive than the Allegiant weekend special flight to Vegas.  But you can usually find some very good deals especially if your dates and destinations are flexible.  Trista is always bombarding me with flight deals and one reason we travel so much is sometimes these deals are too good to pass up.  We have traveled to Europe twice now paying less than $350 per person round trip.  And honestly there are even better deals than that sometimes. So shop around.  Sites like Skyscanner and Google Flights are good starting points to find deals.

Another thing we have noticed is that the more horrible flights you endure the less bad they all feel.  I remember wondering if I would stay sane on a 6 hour flight.  Months later I was on a 15 hour flight which was the second leg (the first leg was a measly 8 hours) with a person sleeping and manspreading on me the entire flight.  In fact I spent all of those 23 hours in a middle seat.  Yes it was miserable. But here is the thing.  I survived it and when you get to your destination it is totally worth it.  Plus the next time you have a 6-7 hour flight it will seem like a breeze.

Ultimately the world has too many amazing places that are long distances from the United States.  Yes, long flights are the worst part of travel usually.  But they aren't that bad.  Have a few glasses of wine and read a book, watch a movie, sleep if you can and before you know it you will be at your destination.