How To Survive a 12-Hour Journey

I love traveling. I love meeting new people, seeing new places, and exploring new cultures. The bad thing about traveling is…well, the traveling part. I’ve had more than my fair share of 12-hour, 24-hour, and 36-hour journeys. They are usually a mixture of buses, coaches, ferries, trains, taxis, and planes, and every time, I pick up a few extra tips to make it slightly more bearable. What follows are my tips for surviving a long journey.

10 Travel Tips

1. Make Friends With Your Fellow Passengers

If anything makes time go faster, it’s chatting with fellow travelers and swapping travel tales and tips. Or even better, find a local who can offer some local advice.

2. Sit At the Front

I still have a teenage instinct that kicks in whenever I get on a bus, and it pulls me towards the back seat like a magnet. The ‘cool kids’ may have sat on the back seat in school, but during a long journey, you’re much better off at the front. There’s nearly always more legroom, there’s less chance you’ll get travel sick, you get a better view, and you’ll be first off the bus and first in the queue for the toilet. Check out Seat Guru for the best seat on a plane.

3. Entertainment Options

Having a laptop expands your options massively. As long as you have a decent battery life you can watch movies and play games (with headphones!) for more than half your journey. If you don’t have a laptop, stick to a good old fashioned book, crosswords, puzzles, papers, magazines.

A pack of cards can keep you entertained for hours and attract other travelers (see point 1). If you’re the trusting type, swap iPods with other travelers for some new tunes. And I don’t care how old you are; Eye Spy never fails to entertain for at least half an hour. You can play this with anyone of any age, and it can be a fun way to learn the language.

4. Be Productive

A long journey can often feel like a waste of a day unless you use your time wisely and do some of those tasks you’ve been putting off. Write some postcards or letters, learn some local phrases, organize your photos and delete the rubbish ones, write in your journal, and if you write a blog, take the chance to write some posts in advance. You can also grab a guidebook and plan what you want to do in your new destination.

5. Buy an Inflatable Cushion

If you plan to catch up on some sleep during the journey, a cushion is a must, not only for comfort but also to avoid resting your head on the random person next to you. Those U-shaped cushions are great for stopping your head from lolling around like a puppet, but I prefer a rectangular one, as it doubles as a bum cushion during those long journeys on bumpy roads!

6. Take a Jumper or Sarong

If it’s hot outside, you may be lucky enough to have an air-conditioned vehicle, which can get chilly after a few hours. If not, you can roll it up and use it as a cushion.

7. Take Healthy Snacks

You’ll want a goodie bag full of snacks for your trip, but try to avoid sweet or salty snacks. They may be tasty and convenient, but they’ll leave you dehydrated, and a sugar rush is the last thing you need whilst in a cramped space. Dried fruit, fresh fruit, and water are your best bets.

8. Exercise

Yes, do those exercises they always tell you to do on an airplane and take a little walk as often as possible. You’ll avoid DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis), and it’ll perk you up a little bit.

9. Safety

Keep your valuables close and beware that theft on buses is common. If your bag is small enough, use it as a pillow while you sleep and keep your passport and money in a money belt around your waist.

10. Take Baby Wipes

Whenever I pull out a pack of baby wipes, I always hand them out to all the other travelers on the bus. They’ll quickly freshen you up and make you feel more human.

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About the Author: Monica Stott caught the travel bug when she was just ten years old and wrote this while on a two-year trip around the world.