SLEEPING IN COACH

There’s a lot you can do to hedge your bets against a hellish flight. The first and most obvious is your seat assignment. Those lacking creativity and inspiration will offer useless advice like "Just buy a first-class ticket." Since your average flyer is not foolish enough to drop the $3k required to check that box, there are still a few things you can do.

PLANNING AHEAD

Depending on the plane, the aisle row seats are your best bet for a decent flight, and they're even better if you book next to a friend or significant other. For red-eye flights, I avoid the emergency rows because, while they offer more legroom, the arm rests are in a fixed position, making it difficult to get into a pretzel-shaped sleeping position (anyone over 6 feet will understand what I mean). As a general rule, avoid the middle row at all costs; this especially goes for international flights. I once made the mistake of booking a middle seat in the middle row on a 9-hour redeye to Italy, never again. Thanks to the meal schedule, your existence is sentenced to a seat sandwiched between a person on either side. Say goodbye to bathroom breaks and mid-flight stretches and hello to blood clots in your legs and a fresh bladder infection.

SETTLING IN

Ok, once you get your seating all sorted, it’s time to take a crack at in-flight entertainment. Today, most planes come outfitted with an entertainment unit for each seat, but not all. You can usually check if that on your flight info. Beware that sometimes that info isn't entirely accurate, so in the worst case, you’ll be studying the sewing pattern of a Norwegian Airlines headrest for a solid 9 hours. Your best bet is to equip yourself with your favorite book, magazine, and/or audiobook. My preference is audiobooks, specifically from Audible, which double as entertainment and, with the right book, can serve as a great sleep aid.

SLEEP AIDS

Sleep is easy for some but nearly impossible for others. For some time, I was certainly a part of the latter group. Poor planning was the true culprit for my lack of in-flight sleep. It’s taken some time, but with my airborne flight kit, it’s easy to get a couple solid hours of shut-eye to counteract jet lag and start off an international trip the right way. A sleep aid of some sort is a crucial tool for any long flight. Benadryl, Melatonin, Sleepy Time Tea, valerian root, kava, Unisom, and ZzzQuil are all great sleep aids. I usually implement chewable melatonin; 1 or 2 does the trick for a few hours of quality sleep. Be sure not to drink on it. I’ve discovered the hard way that alcohol and melatonin create a fun mixture that makes your arms wildly flop around in mid-sleep. Entertaining for those at a distance but certainly not for those within flopping distance.

NECK SUPPORT

Once you’ve got your sleep aid, you need something to support sleeping in an upright position. Trust me, waking every time your head nods is not a fun game to play on a long flight. There are a lot of neck support alternatives out there, but I go with the TRTL Neck Pillow. It provides a lot of support to help you sleep comfortably while being lightweight and easy to pack away when you aren’t using it.

It takes some adjusting here and there, but once you’ve figured out a good combination of what helps you sleep and what doesn’t, getting decent sleep on long flights becomes easier and easier. Once you’ve got a good in-flight sleep routine down, you can hit your destination fresh and ready for adventure.