Sunday 16 October 2011

10 Travel Tips from an Adult Third Culture Kid

This post is all about traveling well in an airplane. As a kid I traveled many times. It is impossible to count the number of times I have flown in an airplane. Tomorrow I will be returning home and traveling for more than 24 hours. I will start the journey by car but most of the time will be spent in an airplane or waiting at an airport. I have a stop over with about 6 hours at an airport. It could be that third culture kids (TCKs) are experts in traveling. What do you think? So here are my 10 travel tips when traveling by air:



  1. Drink lots of water.
  2. Stretch regularly.
  3. Make sure you have your book, i phone, mp3 player or whatever you want to do nearby especially on a long flight.
  4. Have the medication you need to take with your meal at hand (and not above in the stowaway like I did on the journey to Asia). I needed to take my malarone (anti malaria medication) with my breakfast. Do read my earlier post about My Respect for Malaria.
  5. Keep your camera at hand just in case you want to take shots out of the window, just like this photo above.
  6. Take "patience"with you. It is handy when you wait in long queues.
  7. Take a pair of socks with you, if you are lucky you will get a pair for free. 
  8. I always have some toiletries in my hand luggage.
  9. Make sure you switch off your cell phone, and that you know the code to switch it on with.
  10. Take along your passport!
For more tips on air travel with young children: checkout Helen Maffini her website.
I just discovered that Heidi Sand-Hart started a new blog called Globebug and it is dedicated to her love of travel. Heidi is an adult third culture kid too and is the author of the book "Home Keeps Moving".

For those traveling: have a good journey. Try to make the most of it.It's really amazing that we can fly and see so many different parts of the world. I'm sure there are more tips, do you know some more? Please share them. What do you always take in your hand luggage?

4 comments:

  1. Agree 100% with drink lots of water. It makes a huge difference to how quickly I recover from jet lag.

    My tip would be to take a small snack along - a nut & dried fruit bar is my favourite. Even if I have a short trip to the airport, by the time I've been through check-in, got on the plane and waited for food to be served several hours have gone by. Add in a flight delay and I'm ready to eat my seat!

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  2. Thanks for your comment. Yes it's a good idea to take a long a snack. I once sat next to a Dutch man who traveled regularly. He always took along 2 brown cheese sandwiches. Recently I sat next to a friend on a long flight and we managed to finish off a whole package of "stroopwafels" (Dutch cookies). Sometimes taking along some sweets is a good idea too, just in case you get a bad taste in your mouth (I like mints).
    By the way I did see some "chew marks" on the seats! Somebody must have been really hungry.

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  3. I like that you had "patience" as one of the things to pack. This is almost a must, isn't it? I hate to admit, but sometimes that one gets left in the car, the bathroom, or runs off right at the checkout counter. LOL

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  4. Thanks, yes it is very easy to leave it behind. Luckily "patience" does not weigh a lot though it is very "precious". Be aware: it is also very easy to get into an argument with your husband, wife or friend at the airport. It's due to all the stress. So be graceful to each other too.

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