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A lot of us travel around the world in search of new destinations and usually, most of our journeys last more than 5 to 6 hours by flight. Just got these tips for flyers from a friend of mine via email. All these flying tips make perfect sense and I’m sure would help in making the flight journey much more pleasant and comfortable. If you have your own suggestions to make, do comment and I’ll try and incorporate them in this post.

Flying Tips

There are several simple steps you can take to significantly reduce the stress of flying on your body. We will cover tips associated with the act of flying as well as some suggestions to make your airport experience a better one.

1. Avoid diuretics: Diuretics are substances which cause your body to dehydrate (urinate). The two most common diuretics are caffeine and alcohol. Avoiding these substances can greatly reduce the achy feeling that is commonly associated with long flights. This also means avoiding caffeinated soft drinks and black tea. The best drinks for flying include water, non – caffeinated sodas, milk, and juice.

2. Stay hydrated: As an extension to the first tip, remember to drink lots of fluids. The reduced air pressure (even in pressurized cabins) and the dry air can dehydrate your body very quickly The generally achy muscle feeling is, to a large extent, the result of dehydration during flight. You may even wish to carry a sports bottle filled with water and drink from it whenever you think about it. Don’t wait until you are thirsty.

3. Wear comfortable shoes: Yes, comfortable shoes are an important commodity, especially on long flights. For various reasons your feet have a tendency to swell up when you fly. If you are wearing tight shoes to begin with, you are not going to have the pleasant flight that the airline always wishes you.

4. Blankets: Most airlines offer blankets on long flights for you to use if u wish to sleep. For many people, these are of little value. Most are made of poor quality nylon, and in combination with the dry cabin air they create a lightning storm of static discharge every time you move. For many people they are uncomfortable, at best. A good alternative is a cotton sweater or jacket.

5. Clothing: Similar to the blanket situation, try to avoid synthetic fiber clothing while flying. Cotton is usually the best choice for flying. Even on business trips, it is often better to simply change into a suit at the destination airport. That way, you will feel better while flying and your suit will not be wrinkled from flying.

6. Sleeping: If u are traveling across multiple time zones and have a long flight (5+ hours) consider taking a sedative to help you to sleep on the plane. The time won’ t drag by as slowly, you’ll feel more refreshed upon arrival, and you’ll usually do better adjusting to a new time zone Be sure to tell the flight attendant if you wish to be woken up for meals as you may wake up hungry later on.

7. Pillows: Here again, the airline will usually provide pillows for passengers who wish to sleep, but you may run into a similar problem as with the blankets. Use a small, inflatable neck support pillow. Stored away, it’s about the size of a wallet.

8. Cellular Phones: If you are traveling internationally, consider taking your cellular phone, unless of course your service provider cannot offer you coverage. If you do take it along, avoid making calls upon your return until after you have cleared Customs. You may be legitimate, but smugglers also use cell phones to announce their arrival using a cell phone before clearing customs is almost certain to get you pulled into the red line for baggage check.

9. Customs Officials: If you have selected to have your luggage checked, try to keep in mind that the customs official is also a human being. In most cases they are not out to prove you a criminal. Something about you, your itinerary or your mannerism attracted their attention. In many cases, they will tell you why you were chosen. Generally, they will treat you as humanely as you treat them. If they ask you the purpose of your trip, it’s OK to tell them a little more than a one – word answer such as “leisure” Remember that they deal with hundreds of stressed and grumpy travelers every day. Being friendly and accepting the fact that they are trying hard to keep illegal items out of the country will make life easier for everyone involved. Also, be ready to explain questionable items.

10. Prescription Drugs: When traveling with prescription drugs they should always be in a labeled container and be accompanied by a signed prescription. This is especially important for inhalers, which may resemble a bomb or other dangerous device on X-ray. Another reason is that many countries are very intolerant of illegal drugs. In some countries the punishment for bringing any amount of illegal drug into the country is death. This may be an extreme case, but it stresses the importance of having your paperwork in order. Also, remember to have duplicates for essential drugs.

11. Carry-on Musts!: When traveling, it is always a good idea to have one simple change of clothes & toiletry necessities in your carry – on luggage. This prevents you from having to buy new things when you discover that your luggage was misrouted and that you won’t get it for a few days. And if you are on a longer flight, your breath will be no better after 12 hours of flying than it usually is after 12 hours on the ground. Brushing your teeth just before landing is never a bad idea.

12. Misrouted Luggage: The most common reason for misrouted luggage in today’s electronic airports is mislabeling by check-in clerk. Keep your eyes on your luggage when it’s on the scale. This is where the ticketing agent will put the routing tags on your luggage. These are the long, white, bar-coded tags that are usually stuck around the handle of your luggage. Be SURE that the airport listed on the tag is your final destination airport where you intend to pick up your luggage. If it is not, ask the clerk why. Often, they may have mislabeled it. Once in a great while you may have to get your luggage on a stopover and carry it to another check-in. Nowadays, however, that seldom happens.

13. Lock your luggage: In a perfect world, you could put your faith in the people handling your luggage to make sure that it arrives complete and in one piece. But then, this isn’t a perfect world. Luggage theft is very common, and happens at several airports. If you aren’t locking your luggage, you are asking to have something stolen.

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Hangout Digger is 1 Month old!

Navin Ganesh — Tue, 15 May 2007 12:13:40 +0000

I just can’t believe how soon this last month has flown by. After working really hard for more than 2 weeks to get this blog up and running, it has become an integral part of my life, a routine. Seeing more posts and lot more people coming forward to share their experiences and information about various hangouts gives me the feeling of being rewarded for all the hard work we put in. This would not have been possible without all the support we have received from people who have contributed with their reviews and invaluable comments and ofcourse our visitors.

Hangout Digger had its first post on 15th April 2007 about Amethyst. From then, over a month, we have had 26 new reviews of various hangouts spanning 6 different cities across 4 countries and 2 continents.

Thanks to the response, both Narayanan and I are now highly motivated to making this blog a huge success. We hope to get lot more people from different parts of the globe to share their experiences across various cities of the world.

Special Thanks to Kavitha Mohan, Gayathri Jagannathan, Niveditha Ramaswamy, Girish Ganesh, Anush Srivatsan, Vasisht, Aparna Natarajan, Kanchana Pradeep and Shweta Sharma who have enriched Hangout Digger with their wonderful reviews about various hangouts and eatouts.

We are planning to introduce lots of new features that will make Hangout Digger a truly enjoyable experience. So look forward to our updates and plenty more reviews. As of now, we are averaging at one post a day. We hope to be able to increase that, as and when we get more people to send in their reviews.

Henceforth at Hangout Digger, we’ll have a Weekly Roundup that would be posted every Sunday listing all posts from the previous sunday to the saturday just gone by. Also on the 1st of every month, a Monthly Roundup listing all the posts of the previous month would be put up.

Do find below the posts we have had since Day 1 at Hangout Digger:

15th April 2007 – Amethyst by Kavitha Mohan.

17th April 2007 – High Street by Narayanan Hariharan.

18th April 2007 – Beach Kart – Vroom!! by Kavitha Mohan.

20th April 2007 – Star City by Gayathri Jagannathan.

20th April 2007 – Gangotree – Chaat Central by Niveditha Ramaswamy.

21st April 2007 – Mandarin – The Place for Chinese by Girish Ganesh.

23rd April 2007 – Cunningham Road – One of the most happening places in Bangalore! by Navin Ganesh.

24th April 2007 – Fifth Avenue Bakery aka FABS by Narayanan Hariharan.

28th April 2007 – Sigma Mall – The Highlight of Cunningham Road by Navin Ganesh.

29th April 2007 – Bowl O’ (Oh No) China by Kavitha Mohan.

30th April 2007 – Food Village by Navin Ganesh.