How Many Hours on a Plane?!

Like I said in my first post, one factor Mike and I took into consideration when picking our honeymoon destination was how long it would take to get there.  The first two places that came to mind were Australia and Africa.  After talking it over, we decided on South Africa.

The total travel time from Dulles to Cape Town will be a whopping 22 hours on South African Airways.  When we looked into upgrading to business class, there were no spaces left.  Even if there were, I'm sure it would cost us our souls so that option was never really feasible.  Steerage it is!

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Our flight from DC is "direct."  I use that term loosely because after eight hours, we will be making a stop in Dakar, Senegal to clean and refuel the plane.  While in Senegal, we cannot get off the plane because that would require going through customs.  So we will be on board for an hour while we wait to take off again.  When all is said and done, that really isn't too bad.

Then it's off for leg two of the trip - eight and a half hours down to Johannesburg.  And then we have two and a half hours in Jo-burg before our third leg of the trip, which is an hour flight to Cape Town.  That last part just might kill me, but that's all right.  I'll just be happy to sleep in a bed and not a seat when we get into Cape Town at 9:40 pm.

What does one pack for a flight this long?  Between information I have found on various blogs and SeatGuru, I have come up with the following:

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1. Dry Shampoo:  I use this all the time at home, and I love it.  I hate when my hair gets all greasy looking and this stuff works wonders.  

2. Hand Lotion: Unsurprisingly, my hands get super dry on planes.  Ever since I worked at L'Occitane, I have sworn by this stuff.  Wouldn't leave home without it.

3. Toothbrush: It's amazing how much better you feel after brushing your teeth.  Gum makes your breath smell fresh, but I think this is a better alternative.

4. Cucumber Towelettes: On lazy nights at home, I use these to wash my face.  But I have also found that this is a good way to make yourself feel more refreshed and awake.

5. Chap Stick: My comment about how dried out my hands get on planes also applies to my lips.  Total surprise, I know.

6. Slipper Socks:  As Mike can attest to, I'm always freezing.  Especially on airplanes.  I ordered these for the plane ride so that my feet don't turn into icicles.  An added bonus is that they have no-slip grips on the bottom so that I don't fall while walking.

7. Compression Socks: A friend of mine from IU went to Hong Kong for work about a year ago and I remember a comment she made on her blog about wishing she had compression socks.  I figured for a flight this long, it couldn't hurt.

8. Travel Pillow: Before going to Brazil, we did some serious research on which travel pillow is the best.  REI's inflatable travel pillow kept popping up so we got them.  They are pretty amazing, mainly because you can adjust how much air you wish to have in it.  I use them all the time now when we are traveling long distances.  Plus there is enough room in its caring case to hold an eye mask!  Which brings me to...

9. Eye Mask: Somehow, I always end up near those people who think it's just fine to leave their window shade up during a trans-Atlantic flight or that think it's totally acceptable to the only person on the entire red eye that has their personal reading light on.  No joke. 

10. Extra Power Source: I would never have thought to bring this with us but when I checked out SeatGuru, I saw that we have no power source at our seats.  Since my electronics are not going to last the entire journey, I wanted to make sure that I had some extra source of power.

11. Tablet:  Mike has had a tablet for awhile, and it has made me a tiny bit jealous on long plane rides.  He let me borrow his when I went on a trip to Indiana, and I fell in love with traveling with one.  So much less cumbersome than a laptop.

12. Kindle:  You're probably wondering why I'm bringing a Kindle if I have a tablet.  The answer is that I like reading books on my Kindle better.  Something about the back light on a tablet isn't the greatest on my eyes. 

13. Noise Canceling Earphones:  These things are amazing and really work.  If you have noisy neighbors, they really help drown them out so that you can get some sleep.

That's what I got!  Did I miss anything?  What else would you bring?