If you’ve travelled across the world, you most certainly have taken an airplane. Flying, while fun on paper, is pretty exhausting.

The airport is always a mess. You’re waiting in the long lines hoping to deal with your stuff in one second. Of course, that’s never the case because there’s other random stuff to deal with. If you’re checking in luggage, be prepared to weigh it. While you may have weighed it at home, what the scale says at the airport might be different. My parents once had to get rid of 9 kilos worth of stuff because they thought they can get around it. It was the first time not having a third person they can use their check-in on. They would normally bring a lot of stuff to the Philippines to give our relatives but the amount they had to remove was insane. Repacking is the last thing you want to do at the airport but sometimes you have to. 

(ERIC SALARD / Flickr)

Going through security is an absolute nightmare on its own. You have to take off stuff such as jackets, belts, watches, and other accessories minus things such as glasses. You have to remove electronics from your bags such as laptops and any toiletries such as sanitizer and lotion had to be in a separate clear bag. This will always mess up your packing and considering the amount of time you have to do this, sometimes you end up not putting things away properly. Security is oddly rough on you during this process. I had a 7 AM flight one time and they were pretty much yelling at people who were half awake. This made everything a lot worse than it should’ve been.

Depending on how big the airport is, sometimes finding your terminal can be a mess. Sometimes it will take you over ten minutes just to find where you need to be. Sometimes your terminal will change. Terminals can either be one of the most boring places to wait in or pretty fun. Nowadays, it’s a lot more bearable now that we bring devices with us. I managed to watch an eight-episode season of a show while waiting one time. Aesthetically, they can be drab or absolutely decorative. The most decorative terminal I was in was Hello Kitty themed. It was a lot better to look at than muted blue walls. It looked more like a carnival than an office.

(Luke Lai / Flickr)

If you have a layover that is around eight hours, it can be a nightmare waiting. My family once had this issue when we had a layover in Taiwan. Thankfully, my dad knew someone in the area and we went around Taipei during our layover. The last time my parents went to the Philippines, they didn’t have a layover for this specific reason.

Getting on airplanes can be a hassle. You have to wait for your area to be called, wait in line, and hopefully, find your seat on the plane. The walkways are generally pretty narrow and trying to haul a suitcase and maybe something else can be challenging. You have to get your carry-on in the overhead compartment and get your personal item below the seat ahead of yours.

When it comes to actually flying, things can get nauseating. You have to watch a safety guide, either a video or a performance by the flight attendants, just to make sure you know what to do in an emergency situation. One of the things they always have to point out is to attend to yourself before others. If you’re a selfless person, this can go haywire quickly especially if you have children.

(byeangel / Flickr)

It’s easy to get bored quickly on the plane. I usually use this time to just listen to music and let my thoughts go loose. If it’s an insanely long flight. I would try to sleep as much as possible so I don’t have to feel most of my motion sickness coming through. I always bring as many treats as I can because airplane food can be some of the worst stuff you can eat. My flight from Taiwan to the Philippines had food that made me throw up just from the smell alone. No stench before that could make me do such a thing. When we had a flight from the Philippines to Taiwan, I made sure to bring a big (but not family-size) of chips just so then I didn’t have to eat the food that was given on the flight. You also need to remember to hydrate in the air. I tend to forget to drink a lot of water on longer flights which led to me getting nauseous. 

I tried watching movies or reading books on a flight. As someone who gets motion sick, doing this was pretty painful because trying to focus on something while in motion can trigger stuff for me. I had to stop doing this because of situations like this. Before flying nowadays, I make sure to take Gravol just to make sure I don’t get incredibly sick in the air.

Sitting for extended periods on the plane can hurt quite a bit. If the seat you’re in is uncomfortable, there isn’t a lot you can do about it. You can’t recline because the person behind you will see this as inconvenient to their experience. Whenever I slept on flights as a child, I would put my head on my mom’s lap because it was significantly more comfortable than sleeping upright.

Landing is always a weird situation. People become super impatient and try to get their stuff out as much as possible at the same time. I usually just wait for enough people to clear out before grabbing anything.

Once you’re at your destination, you feel like you went through a lot. Flights, as boring as they can be, are still the only good way to travel across the world. We can’t always afford first class or private jets, so be prepared with being trapped with a lot of people.