Australia and long haul flight, what to know before I go

[SunshineSurf]

Long story short I’m headed to the Northern Rivers area of NSW (Eastern Australia) for a month in January. I’ve never done anything like this before! The furthest I’ve been is Italy and that was a decade ago.

Does anyone have any advice/tips for long haul plane travel and/or travel to Australia?

So far I have flights booked, purchased travel insurance, booked accommodation (AirBnB), and my passport arrived this week.

Put your flight times into AI and it'll recommend a sleep schedule and how to prepare by adjusting sleep times in the run up to your trip.
Didn't work for me as just felt under pressure 😀but I can't sleep on flights anyway

I did London to Kuala Lumpur then KL to Perth with a 2 hours lay over in summer 19 hours flying. It wasn't as bad as I expected. Watched lots of movies, barely touched my book, it feels like they feed you constantly - if drinks service is slow just ask in between - I get dehydrated so usually drink a lot of water and they were good at topping up. Avoid alcohol.

Window seats are best for trying to get comfortable if trying to sleep I was middle of middle Aisle going which didn't help for me.

I was amazed at how everyone around me was asleep and for hours at a time when it was the middle of the day our time.

Have a pen with you to fill the incoming card. Do NOT take fresh food with you, leave leftovers in plane. No half eaten sandwich or fruit.

Fill in the card honestly, declare any food you're carrying and do NOT be tempted to try and get it through without declaring it.

Upgrade your seat to at least world premium econony class - business if you can afford it
cattle class will be sheer torture -the second leg will break you

Don't get cocodamol if you're transiting through the middle east. It's banned there.

Don't stretch out on the floor in Singapore airport, fall asleep and nearly miss your second flight 😳

OP, I recently flew long haul (12 hour flight) and was stuck in the middle of a four set of seats, so consequently I didn’t move much, or drink much (so I wouldn’t need the loo) and ended up with several pulmonary embolisms. My advice - pay for an aisle seat so you can move around. Wear compression socks - every medical professional I saw afterwards asked me if I had been wearing them. ( I had. Goodness knows how much worse it might have been had I not!) Drink plenty of water and avoid alcohol. Make sure you move - every hour is recommended, but get up and go for a stroll/ visit the loo at least every couple of hours. I hope you have a great holiday in Australia.

Not from my experience. We landed yesterday from the States and my child was the only child in premium. Guess it’s luck of the draw.

Would also depend to some degree on when the school holidays are. I’ve only done PE once and it was really quiet (in the middle of November),

Generally the worst I've ever seen for being strewn with rubbish and papers everywhere was business class when walking through to disembark.

My one experience of PA was not that it was chaos, but I did fly during term time.

Generally the worst I've ever seen for being strewn with rubbish and papers everywhere was business class when walking through to disembark.

A lot depends on the route....economy often gets trashed just as much as the cabins further forward.

OTOH the state of cabins on routes to/from Japan was often a joy to behold....

One PP mentioned but 100% compression socks - make a massive difference would really encourage people to wear them for long flights and take a water bottle that you fill up

Rest is preference - neck pillow, ear plugs, eye patch if eco - the painkiller one also resonates for me or heat patches if things could get really bad those things work for a good 6-8 hours

I will support this. We always fly business class when going long haul and we always leave everything tidy, fold up the blanket and put everything that needs to be removed so that the crew can easily grab it, and put all of our rubbish in the bins when they come round. I have said words to the effect of "wow, were these people raised in a barn?" to my husband more times than not when disembarking.

I dunno, I'm still going to have to disagree to some extent...

I used to sometimes perform or even had to do walk rounds of all the aircraft cabins post passenger disembarkation (with customs officials at some places) and TBH from what I saw doing that it varied across all cabins and across routes...

It’s definitely the luck of the draw. As mentioned I fly a lot in ultra long haul and have been in every cabin.
The best case scenario is a half empty economy flight. Best value, big cabin, can stretch out like its across a whole row. Absolutely ideal.
There been many times I’ve had this experience and peeped into PE and the place is rammed.
Equally I was once In BA First on a 747 to the West Coast. I decided to take a stroll around the plane. PE was through the curtain and it was like the seventh circle of hell. Screaming children, smashed up biscuits on the floor, every seat taken and it smelled of various child excretions. Everyone looked murderous! Everyone awake and fractious. I walked through to economy and it was half empty, calm and peaceful. Everyone had their own row. Sleeping peacefully.
Since then I decided to gather my own data on PE and my conclusion is… no. It’s always rammed even if the rest of the flight is half empty and most are families with ‘rambunctious’ offspring.
Economy and hope for an empty flight
or
Business or First of someone else is paying or you have the miles.

There is an ETA app, apply for your visa that way.

Who will you be flying with?

Ive flown a few times to Oz, Quantas and Emirates and even Malaysian were good.
BA last year was AWFUL!
LHR -KL was akin to Ryan Air. Cramped economy, poor service and just generally hell. We had Malaysian PE from KL-SYD and BA PE on the flight back from Doha-LHR.
I didn’t encounter an issue with my foot hammock, but I was quite discreet.

Lots of useful advice on the travel aspect. I would add that if you are flying economy either a stopover or an upgrade to PE.

Not sure where in the Northern Rivers you will be, but be aware it can rain very heavily in NNSW/SEQLD in January so bring a good quality umbrella and raincoat.

On the converse, ensure you wear factor 50 not 30. January can be very wet but also extremely hot.

I recently flew to Sydney and in addition to previous recommendations, i would add eye drops as my eyes became very dry and gritty during the last few hours. It was also due to tiredness but eye drops definitely helped on the way home.

I used an app to get a schedule to avoid jet lag, which meant I experienced very little even though I literally went for a long weekend (wedding). Best thing I ever did.

The best case scenario is a half empty economy flight. Best value, big cabin, can stretch out like its across a whole row. Absolutely ideal.

I had one of those coming back from Kuala Lumpur years ago. 14 hours stretched out, bliss.

Moral - book flights to/from Aus to fly during the week.

Are you flying via Dubai? Highly recommend paying for lounge access (make sure it's one with a shower), and booking it in advance. Being able to take a shower and have a drink and a rest somewhere relatively quiet and comfortable is a game changer.

If you are flying via Singapore, there is a roof-top pool in the airport, so stick your bikini in your hand luggage!

If you are flying via Singapore, there is a roof-top pool in the airport, so stick your bikini in your hand luggage!

True, but if the OP is doing a direct flight with QF or BA with a SIN transit there won't be time for that.

TBH it might help if the OP can give a hint as to the itinerary so folks can provide bespoke advice but I accept doing that might be outing..

Don’t take any food into Australia they do get upset with that.
not sure about cigarettes or booze might be worth checking on their website for all information.

Cigarettes is one unopened packet of up to 25 cigarettes.

Drink can be picked up before clearing customs and immigration. If Nothing To Declare is any guide, drugs are more of an issue these days, but customs have beagles and those critters can sniff out anything.

You can take some food, but you have to declare it. Definitely no fresh foods though.

How do you keep phones charged on board? Many airlines are now banning power banks as a fire hazard, so are there outlets on the seat back etc.?

Just curious, and I admire anyone who does this journey back and forth. I think it would kill me, but I suppose if I had to do it I would.

I think personally, the only way I could survive a journey of that length on a plane with connecting flights and so on, is to break the journey into a multi stop trips with say five or six hour flights, stay a few nights in each destination, and hop across! Or even better, take a cruise and stop off on the way!

Good luck OP, I hope you have an amazing time Down Under.